Competition rules

The law of the land for HawkHacks 2021

Thanks for your interest in HawkHacks 2021! To keep the competition a fun and safe environment, we have created a set of rules which govern all HawkHacks activities. These are subject to change at any time, and by participating in HawkHacks events you agree to follow these rules during events and in event-affiliated spaces.

Failure to comply with any of the general rules or rules specific to the event(s) in which you are competing may result in consequences at the discretion of the HawkHacks directors. In serious cases, consequences may range up to expulsion from the event and/or ineligibility to participate in future HawkHacks events, as well as potential involvement of school-affiliated adults.

General rules

  1. To participate in HawkHacks events, you must be at least 13 years old, and you must be currently enrolled as a middle or high school student at a school in New York City.
  2. To participate in HawkHacks 2021, you must be able to access these services: Discord [TOS // Privacy // Guidelines] and Zoom [TOS].
  3. Treat all participants, speakers, mentors, judges, and organizers with kindness and respect. Conduct yourself with professionalism across all platforms where HawkHacks will take place (i.e. Discord, Zoom, Devpost). Remember the golden rule.

Ideathon-specific rules

  1. Be prepared before the event with the problem and subtopic you are most interested in addressing.
  2. In addition to the services mentioned above, you must also be able to access Devpost [TOS // Privacy] to participate in the ideathon.
  3. Be prepared to submit all required materials (interview notes, pitch deck, and pitch recording) for the judges.

CTF-specific rules

  1. Stay in-bounds. At the beginning of the competition, the CTF organizers will tell you what targets are “in-bounds” for the competition (e.g. what you are allowed breach to find flags). Any other target (including the CTF website itself) is considered out-of-bounds. Attempting to breach an out-of-bounds machine is not allowed, a waste of your time because you won’t find any flags there, and a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030). Just don’t try it.
  2. Don’t reveal or ask for flags. This is meant to be a fun competition, and the exchange of flags between teams defeats the purpose of the game. (Posted a flag in Discord by accident? Don’t worry! Any message containing what appears to be a flag may be deleted automatically.)
  3. If you’re stuck, ask for help. This is meant to be a CTF open to all experience levels, and the organizers are more than happy to lend a hand if you’re having difficulty with a challenge. If you have any questions, use the #ctf-help channel on Discord or ping the @ctf helper role in your team’s channel. We’ll try to give you helpful hints!

Have any questions about these rules (or anything else HawkHacks-related)? Shoot us an email at [email protected]!