DOGFOOD 2026 — Build the Open-Source Platform That Will Judge You

DOGFOOD runs September 25 to 28, 2026, online and free, with a $2,500 prize pool. Every team builds the same product: the submission and judging platform Hackathon Raptors will actually run on. Open source, self-hosted, production-ready in 72 hours. If we cannot run it, we cannot adopt it, and every rule of the event is downstream of that one.

✯ The Build

The spec is published September 24 and the work is organised as a tier ladder. Teams claim the tiers they complete and are judged on the claim they make.

• T1 Core — authentication and sessions, a real role model, event creation, team formation by invite, project submission with draft-and-edit, deadline enforcement that holds, and a public gallery.
• T2 Judging — judge assignment, weighted rubrics, role isolation and organiser dashboards.
• T3 Public — the public surface: comments, result hiding, randomised ordering and abuse detection.
• T4 Stretch — REST API, webhooks, certificates, embeddable widgets and bulk import and export.

✯ How It Is Judged

Every submission is reviewed against four published criteria on a five-point scale: Tier Completion & Correctness (40%), Judging Integrity (25%), Adoptability & Operability (20%), and Code Quality & Innovation (15%). Submissions must be OSI-approved open source, new code only, running from a single command, with no hosted-service dependency.

✯ Key Dates

• September 24 — spec published.
• September 25, 18:00 UTC — kickoff.
• September 28, 18:00 UTC — code freeze.
• September 28 to October 8 — judging window.
• October 9 — winners announced.

Registration is open at dogfoodhack.com.