How do I participate in GovHack?
Register for a Competition Event > look for Challenges that interest you > look for Datasets and Data Portals to help you build your solution > create a Team Project > enter your Team Project to your chosen Challenges.
How do I find a team?
Grab a group of friends, find a group at the event, or head to the #find-team channel in GovHack Slack (login or register). Each team member must individually register for a Competition Event at Hackerspace, and once the competition starts you’ll be able to create and join Team Projects.
How many people can I have in my team?
You can have a minimum of 1 person (solo team), and a maximum of 10 people. But remember you’ll need to share any potential prizes amongst the team.
Does everyone in the team need to be from the same region?
No. You can have team members from different regions and you will be asked to choose which region the project team belongs to.
For example:
Person A (NSW), Person B (NT), and Person C (WA) team up. In Hackerspace you will be asked to nominate a single region for the purposes of challenge Entry criteria and the competition end time. You would have a choice of NSW, NT, or WA. You cannot choose any other region as your team does not have team members from other regions.
Can I enter challenges from a different region?
At the bottom of every challenge is the Entry criteria. It will specify if anyone can enter or if it’s restricted to project teams from a certain region.
How many challenges can I enter?
Each project can be entered into a maximum of 5 challenges. You may create multiple projects but they must be substantially different.
When does the 2024 competition start and end?
Check the Competition Event page for the event you registered for to see what time venue doors open and close. In terms of actual hacking time, challenges are visible on Friday at 7pm your local time, and submissions close at 4pm Sunday your local time. If your team has team members from different regions, the competition closes at 4pm of the local time of the region your project team is registered for.
What do I need to submit at the end of the competition?
Find the full requirements in the Competition Rules and the Handbook. Ensure everything you submit is publicly visible so it can be judged. In particular test that other people can get to the Evidence of Work, Video, and Homepage link/photo.
At a minimum, ensure you have submitted:
• Description of your project
• Your project’s data story
• Evidence of work
• Video (max 3min)
• Homepage link (if digital) or Project photo / video of what you built (if physical)
• All the datasets you used
• Challenges you have entered
Why don’t I show up on my team’s project page?
You may still need to accept the invitation to join the project team, or you may not have published your profile. You must accept the invitation. However, you do not need to publish your profile, that is optional.
What’s the best way to upload my video – the file is really big!
We recommend uploading to YouTube. YouTube will immediately provide you with the video URL which you can submit on your project page without needing to wait for the video to fully upload.
We do not recommend using auto uploaders from video editing software – you may see this as an option to ‘render and upload’. If you do choose this option you must wait for the video to fully upload before receiving the URL.
How do I ensure my project is available under an ‘open source/content licence to be eligible for awards and any prizes’?
Firstly, the project must be publicly visible so it can be judged. All code and data must be available under an appropriately open license that allows reuse, commercial use, remixing and redistribution. All other content submitted must be Creative Commons BY licensed.
Where do I go for more information?
The Handbook has almost everything you would be looking for. You can also check the Competition Rules. And if you have a question that has still not been answered, jump onto GovHack Slack (login or register) and we can help you out there.