//SprintHack@ND 2026
How judges score your team
Judges score six criteria worth 100 points in total. Each criterion is scored on a level from 0 to 4, and level 2 is what a solid team earns. Each judge in your pod scores every team they watched. Your score is the average across your pod’s judges, after a per-judge adjustment so a tough judge and a generous judge count the same. A judge who did not watch you leaves you blank, and blank is never zero.
The six criteria
1. Working Evidence
26 ptsWhat does the recorded demo show running, end to end?
- 0Nothing runs; no demo video
- 1Mockup, slides or narration only
- 2Parts run on screen, but one step is a cut, a screenshot or narrationsolid team
- 3Full workflow runs on screen in one take, on the team's own example
- 4Full workflow runs in one take on more than one example, including a messy or edge-case input
2. Partner Problem Fit
22 ptsDoes it solve the partner's problem with a clear, rational approach?
- 0No link to the partner's problem
- 1Solved a different, easier problem
- 2Right topic, but only partly solves the partner's problemsolid team
- 3Fully solves the partner's problem
- 4Fully solves it in the most efficient way, with the fewest steps for the user
3. Fits Their Constraints
19 ptsDid they engage the partner and understand the problem beyond the surface?
- 0No sign they engaged the partner
- 1Surface understanding, generic talk
- 2Named a real limit from the partner, but the build does not reflect it yetsolid team
- 3Build works within one real limit of the partner (time, budget, staff skills or systems)
- 4Build works within all their key limits, so the partner could start using it tomorrow
4. Technical Substance
15 ptsHow much of the hard part is real and built by the team?
- 0Claimed capability does not exist or is not their work
- 1Nobody can explain how a part works
- 2Most impressive moment is simulated, and they said sosolid team
- 3Hard part is real, minor edges simulated and disclosed
- 4Hard part is their own work, and they can explain its limits and what they would build next
5. Demo Clarity
11 ptsDid they clearly articulate what they built?
- 0No demo delivered
- 1You still do not understand what they built
- 2You understood, but only by the endsolid team
- 3Clear from the start, with one stumble
- 4Clear in the first 30 seconds, on time, and you can repeat their pitch
6. X-Factor
7 ptsDid this team stand out? Would you back them?
- 0Serious concern or red flag
- 1Forgettable
- 2Solid, but does not stand outsolid team
- 3Stands out, you want to see more
- 4You would back them, and the partner would want to pilot it
Your demo
- You present Google Slides with your recorded demo video embedded, then take questions.
- Every team in a pod gets the same timed slot: your demo, questions, then a buffer before the next team.
- The demo is a hard cut when its time is up.
- The room computer runs your slides from the pod’s folder.
- Open with the partner’s problem, in the partner’s own words.
What you submit by 4:00 PM Sunday
Submit at innovationsprintlab.com/go/submit:
- Your Google Slides link, with the demo video embedded, shared as “anyone with the link”
- Your GitHub repo link
- What you built versus what you used
- Sources cited: open-source projects, tooling, models, APIs and templates
Nothing pushed after 4:00 PM counts. You can resubmit any time before 4:00; your last submission counts.
Three zero-point items on every ballot
- Eligibility flag: the build looks like it was made before this weekend. The organizer checks the repo history once; a team flagged and upheld is removed from the ranking.
- Overclaim flag. The organizer checks it once, against your built-versus-used text and your repo. An upheld overclaim moves Working Evidence to level 1 on every ballot.
- “Would you, or your organization, spend 30 minutes with this team next week?”
Every judge writes a comment for every team, and every team gets those comments after the weekend.
How a winner is picked
- Three winners, one per partner: Beacon Health System, Goodwill Michiana and DIU.
- Each pod’s judges deliberate at 6:00 PM with the scores on screen, and the partner picks the winner of its own track.
- Ties within 1.5 points break on Partner Problem Fit, then Working Evidence, then the number of YES answers to the 30-minute question, then the partner judge’s YES.
- Winners are announced at 7:45 PM in room 109, and each winning team demos again for two minutes.
- $750 to each winning team.
