Brought to you by Bidaya New

Under The Surface

A Solo-Builder Web REACT UI Hackathon

24–26 July 2026 · Open to all skill levels

Welcome, young builder.

We are glad to see you considering joining Bidaya's first ever hackathon! This guide has everything you need to know before, during, and even after the hackathon: how it works, how you're judged, and how to make the most of your time. Read carefully, then build relentlessly. Best of luck!

Welcome

Thank you for signing up to build with us. Over the course of this hackathon, you'll take an idea from a blank screen to a working, deployed website; entirely on your own.

No teams, no hiding behind a teammate's code. Just you, your ideas, and however many cups of tea (or energy drinks) it takes.

This is your chance to prove what you can build under pressure, learn a ton in a short amount of time, and walk away with something real for your portfolio. Whatever your skill level, the goal is the same: start, iterate, ship.

About the Organizer

This hackathon is brought to you by Bidaya, a student empowerment nonprofit focused on helping students build real skills through mentorship, projects, and hands-on learning.

You can find out more about us at bidaya.dev. Be sure to follow us on Instagram @bidaya.dev to stay updated on new events and initiatives. Join our Discord too for the opportunity to connect with other ambitious students and find further details about our initiatives.

Event Format

Solo only: Every participant competes solo. No teams. You are the designer, developer, and project manager. Solo means solo — use of AI in any form (code generation, design, writing, or otherwise) is strictly prohibited, with zero tolerance. Judges will use decided methods to detect usage of AI, and any detected use will result in immediate disqualification from prizes.
Theme: The broad theme is the Ocean. The specific topic within that theme will be revealed later, closer to the hackathon, and will be posted on our website (bidaya.dev) as well as shared with the Bidaya Discord. Do not start building too much too early, as resonance with the specific topic is crucial, regardless of the broader theme.
Deliverable: Your final submission must be a website. This can be a web app, an interactive experience, a game, a tool, or anything that runs in a browser and fits the topic.
Tools: You're welcome to use any language, framework, or library. Note that AI coding tools are not allowed. Usage of such tools will affect prize eligibility. To be eligible for a prize, your website must be built using React.

Get the Topic Early

The specific topic (within the ocean theme) will be shared early with members of the Bidaya Discord server before it's announced anywhere else. It will also be posted on our website (bidaya.dev) at the official reveal time. We'd again recommend waiting for the specific topic rather than starting on the broad theme alone — relevance to the exact topic matters a lot in judging, and building toward the wrong angle can cost you points later.

Timeline

Registration closes 23 July 11:59 PM GMT+4

Topic Reveal 24 July 10:00 AM GMT+4

Optional Crash Course TBD

Submissions Deadline 26 July 10:00 AM GMT+4

Shortlisted Participants Announced TBD

Winners Announced TBD

Rules and Eligibility

Work must be entirely your own, done individually and during the official hackathon window. Any aspect copied or adapted from somebody else must be clearly labelled.
Submissions must clearly connect to the topic — judges will factor this into scoring.
You must submit a working link to your site, your source code repository on GitHub, and an optional 60-second video explaining your project before the deadline.
The submission deadline is strict. No extensions, no exceptions; plan your last few hours accordingly.
Plagiarism, copying another participant's project, or misrepresenting authorship results in disqualification.
Be respectful. Harassment or unsportsmanlike conduct toward other participants, mentors, or judges will not be tolerated.
Judges' decision on all matters is final.

To Be Eligible for a Prize

⚠ No AI use. Zero tolerance.

Your code and design must be written entirely by you, by hand, with zero use of AI code generation, AI design tools, or AI assistants of any kind, at any stage of building your project. This includes AI autocomplete/copilot-style tools, AI chatbots for code or design help, and AI website builders. This is strictly enforced, and any confirmed use of AI will result in a permanent ban from all future Bidaya events, in addition to disqualification from this one.

⏱ Minimum 3 hours invested

Tracked with Hackatime. Hackatime automatically tracks your coding time in the background. It's free and takes a couple of minutes to set up.

Installing Hackatime

Create a free account at hackatime.hackclub.com and grab your API key from your dashboard.
Install the WakaTime extension for your code editor (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, and others are all supported).
In the extension settings, enter your Hackatime API key and set the API URL to the Hackatime endpoint shown on your dashboard.
Start coding as normal — your time is logged automatically in the background. Double check your dashboard shows activity before you submit.

Registration and Submission

📌 Submission deadline: 26 July 10:00 AM GMT+4 — strict, no extensions.

How to Submit

Deploy your site — make it live and accessible via a public link (Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, or similar all work great). (Do not expect a localhost project to be judged.)
Push your source code to a public repository.
Fill out the submission form — Click here — before the deadline.
Answer all questions on the submission form including a short write-up (3-5 sentences) describing your project and how it fits the topic.

⏰ The deadline is strict. No late submissions will be accepted or judged, no matter the reason — build your submission buffer in.

Prizes and Recognition

Everyone who meets the criteria wins

No Losers!

As long as you meet the eligibility criteria — no AI, 3+ hours on Hackatime, React-based project — you walk away with a prize.

Submission must be of reasonable quality — spending 3 hours on a single-page site with 3 words and basic design may not be eligible for any prizes.

Judging Panel

All submissions will be judged by the co-founders of Bidaya, who'll be reviewing every project personally. They'll be looking for creativity, technical execution, and how well your project captures the spirit of the topic.

Shortlisted

🏅

Shortlisted Participant

Participation Certificate
$15 virtual card for domain purchase
Shortlisted Certificate

For participants who complete 3+ hours of React coding with no AI assistance

Winners

👑

Winning Participant

Special Backed Certificate
$15 virtual card for domain purchase
Trebuchet Priority application review

Awarded to top projects judged on creativity, execution, and design

Exceptional Achievement

Sites judged VERY AMAZING will receive:

Shoutout on the Bidaya Discord
Optional Instagram shoutout

Bonus: Boost Your Trebuchet Application

Trebuchet is Bidaya's initiative for students who want to start a research project, a startup, or build a big project. Selected students get mentorship, and if you don't need mentorship, we can help connect you with a team instead. In very rare cases, we're even able to help provide financial aid for a project.

Earning a certificate from this hackathon — participation or special — can help strengthen a future Trebuchet application. So whatever level you finish at, keep your certificate: it's a real, usable line on your CV.

Scoring Criteria

What the judges are looking for

Creativity

An original take on the topic — surprise us with your unique angle.

Technical Execution

Clean, functional code and a site that actually works without major bugs.

Design and UX

Is it intuitive, polished, and pleasant to use? First impressions matter.

Topic Relevance

How clearly your project connects to the specific revealed topic.

Completeness

Did you ship something finished, not just a sketch or prototype?

Quick-Start: HTML, CSS and React

New to building websites, or just want a refresher? Here's the bare minimum to get you from a blank folder to a live page.

HTML and CSS in 60 Seconds

HTML gives your page structure — headings, text, images, buttons. CSS controls how it looks — colors, spacing, layout.

<!-- index.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>My Ocean Site</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to the Deep</h1>
    <p>Scroll down to explore.</p>
</body>
</html>

/* style.css */
body {
    background: #04223b;
    color: white;
    font-family: sans-serif;
}
                            

React in a Nutshell

React lets you build a website out of reusable components — little pieces of UI written in JavaScript. A component is just a function that returns some markup:

function WaveCard() {
    const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
    return (
        <div className="card">
            <h2>Waves spotted: {count}</h2>
            <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
                Spot a wave
            </button>
        </div>
    );
}
                            

Components: Break your page into small, reusable pieces.
State: useState lets a component remember and update data.
JSX: Curly braces let you drop JavaScript values into your markup.

React Official Guide → W3Schools

Tips for a Great Hackathon

Plan before you build: Spend the first 30-60 minutes sketching your idea and scope before writing any code. A clear plan saves hours later.
Ship something small first: A simple project that works beats an ambitious one that's half broken. Get a working version early, then improve it.
Polish matters: Judges only see what you submit — polish your landing page, add a favicon, write a clean README.
Take breaks: Hackathons move fast. Step away, stretch, and eat something before you crash.
Ask for help: If mentors or check-ins are available, use them. A five-minute chat can save you an hour of debugging.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers to common questions

Can I start building before the specific topic is revealed? +

You can sharpen your skills, set up your tools, and get comfortable with HTML/CSS or React. But since topic relevance matters significantly in judging, we'd recommend holding off on your actual project idea until the specific topic drops — building toward the wrong angle can cost you points.

What if my site breaks right before the deadline? +

Submit what you have — a working, partially-featured site will always score better than no submission at all. Just remember the deadline itself won't move.

Can I use AI tools to help me code? +

You can, but it will make you ineligible for a prize. If you want to be eligible, your code and design need to be your own, unassisted by AI. This is strictly enforced with zero tolerance — any confirmed AI use results in a permanent ban from all future Bidaya events.

What is Hackatime, and do I really need it? +

Hackatime is a free tool that tracks your coding time automatically. Yes, it's required if you want your 3+ hours of work verified for prize eligibility — see the install steps on the Overview tab.

How will I know if I won? +

Winners will be announced after judging closes, through the channels used to communicate throughout the event. Shortlisted participants and winners will receive emails as well.

Stay in the Loop

This won't be the last thing Bidaya runs. Join the Discord and follow on Instagram to hear about future hackathons, workshops, debates, and more — plus, Discord members get early access to topic reveals for events like this one.

Bidaya Discord

Join for community, early topic access, and event announcements.

Join Discord →

Bidaya Instagram

Follow for updates on upcoming hackathons, workshops, and debates.

Follow →

Good luck, and happy building!

Remember — no losers here, just builders. Questions before the event? Reach out to the organizing team.

Example Site → Join Discord