Environmental Hacks
Rules
The rules of the tour
One rulebook covers all six hackathons, Environmental Hacks included. Everything specific to this weekend is on its own pages: the tracks and the prizes on the overview, and the hours and the submission deadline on the schedule.
Last updated September 16, 2026Rules for the whole tour
01
Who can enter
- You can enter if you are a university student in India and you are 18 or older.
- Every hackathon runs online, so you can take part from anywhere in India. The host city also runs that hackathon in person. In-person seats are limited and go first come, first served.
- You register once and that covers all six hackathons. Register for the tour, then check in to each hackathon when it opens. Entering one hackathon does not stop you entering another.
- You need two things: a WeMakeDevs account and an AWS Builder Center profile with your university enrollment verified on it.
- If your student verification is still being sorted out, enter anyway. It is run by SheerID, and an open case with them does not stop you submitting to a hackathon that is running, or being judged and considered for its prizes while you resolve it. Get it cleared all the same: the rewards on your Builder Center profile and the fast-track interview in section 06 both wait on it.
- If you help run the tour, judge it, or work for WeMakeDevs or AWS, you can still take part. You cannot win prizes.
02
Teams
- Build alone, or in a team of up to four people. The limit is the same online and in person.
- Teammates can be from different universities and different cities. Each member has to qualify on their own.
- Every member registers for the tour with their own account. A captain cannot register the rest of the team.
- One submission per team. One team per person per hackathon.
- Part of your team can be at the venue and part online. Judging works exactly the same either way.
03
What you build
It all comes down to the clock.
- Start building when the hackathon opens. Stop at the deadline on that hackathon's page. Learning, planning and practice before it starts are fine, and we encourage them.
- Old projects do not count. Build something new once the clock starts. If you began the project before the hackathon opened, it does not qualify, even if you rewrote it.
- You can use open-source libraries, frameworks, public APIs, boilerplate and starter templates. What gets judged is what you added during the event.
- Your project has to use AWS, and your demo video has to show it. Naming AWS in the writeup alone is not enough.
- Start on the AWS Free Tier. A new AWS account comes with up to $200 in free credits, on top of the services that are always free, and building or deploying on them counts in full for every track, the deployed one included. If you need more than that, you can request credits from the organisers.
- You can use AI coding tools. List the ones you used in your writeup.
- The work has to be yours. Anything you did not write needs a credit and a licence that allows you to use it.
- You keep the rights to what you build. By entering, you let WeMakeDevs and AWS show your project and name your team when they write about the tour.
04
Submissions
- A submission is three things: a public repository, a demo video of up to three minutes, and a short writeup covering the problem, the build, and where AWS fits.
- The demo video has to be uploaded to YouTube and run under three minutes. Set it to public or unlisted, and check the link opens in a signed-out browser before you submit it.
- Submit on your hackathon's own submission form, once per team, before the deadline shown there.
- Deadlines are strict. Once the deadline on your hackathon's page passes, the form closes and no project can be entered after it.
- Judges score what you submit and nothing else. There is no live demo and no call. If the video does not show it, it does not count, and a feature that exists only in the writeup does not count either.
05
Judging
- Projects built at the venue and projects built online go to the same panel and are scored on the same criteria. Each hackathon lists its criteria on its own page.
- The panel's decision is final. Scores are not published and are not discussed afterwards.
- Copying someone else's work, passing an old project off as new, or a repository whose history does not match the event dates disqualifies the whole team.
- Winners are announced on the hackathon's page and told by email. Prizes go to the details you registered with, so keep them correct.
06
Fast-track interview at Amazon
The one thing here that lasts longer than the weekend.
The rule
Top student projects from Pre-Final Year (2028) & Final Year (2027) will be eligible for a fast-track interview opportunity with Amazon's University Talent Acquisition Team for available roles at Amazon.
- At most ten fast-track interviews can be put forward per hackathon. Ten is a ceiling, not a promise. If no project meets the bar, fewer go forward, or none at all.
- The interview is for a six month internship at Amazon, or for a full-time role.
- Your eligibility is checked against your registration details and your AWS Builder Center profile. Both have to be correct, and your student status verified, before the hackathon you enter.
- Winning a prize does not get you an interview, and winning nothing does not rule you out of one. Prizes and interviews are two separate decisions, made by different people against different criteria.
- The judges, the organisers and Amazon decide which projects go forward. Their decision is final, no reasons are given, and you cannot appeal it.
- All of this can change. The opportunity may be changed, paused or withdrawn at any time, and nothing on this site promises that any interview will be offered at any hackathon.
- The full terms are in section 08 below. Read them before you count on this.
07
Conduct
- The WeMakeDevs Code of Conduct applies at every hackathon, online and in person, for the whole event and in every channel the tour runs in.
- Harassment, cheating, or abuse of mentors, volunteers or other builders ends your participation. There is no appeal.
- At the venue, follow the venue's own rules and whatever the on-site staff tell you, for the whole event.
- Report anything to the organisers on the day, or by email. Every report is handled in confidence.
08 / Terms and conditions
The fast-track interview, in full
These are the terms for the fast-track interview in section 06. All of them except the last two come from Amazon, word for word. The last two are ours: what winning a prize does and does not do for you, and how many interviews one hackathon can put forward.
- 01No guarantee of employment
- An interview opportunity does not constitute an offer of employment or internship. All candidates must successfully clear Amazon's standard interview and evaluation process.
- 02Subject to business requirements
- Interview opportunities are subject to availability of open roles, team headcount, and business requirements at the time of scheduling.
- 03Eligibility criteria
- Eligibility is limited to students currently enrolled in the specified degree programs with the expected graduation year. Students must meet Amazon's minimum eligibility criteria and not be under any active disciplinary action. Detailed eligibility criteria will be shared with students whose projects are shortlisted as top projects.
- 04Selection of top projects
- Selection of top projects is at the sole discretion of the evaluation panel. The decision of the panel is final and binding. No correspondence regarding the evaluation will be entertained.
- 05Timeline and validity
- Interview opportunities must be availed within the stipulated timeframe communicated at the time of notification. Unclaimed opportunities will lapse automatically.
- 06No sponsorship or relocation commitment
- This opportunity does not imply any commitment regarding visa sponsorship, relocation support, or compensation terms, which will be determined independently if an offer is extended.
- 07Right to modify or withdraw
- Amazon reserves the right to modify, suspend, or withdraw this opportunity at any time without prior notice, due to changes in hiring plans or business conditions.
- 08Data usage consent
- By participating, students consent to their project submissions and personal information being shared with Amazon's recruitment team for evaluation purposes.
- 09Non-transferable
- The interview opportunity is non-transferable and applies only to the individual(s) named in the selected project team.
- 10Winning is not the qualifier
- Winning a track, or any other prize at a hackathon on the tour, does not qualify a project for a fast-track interview, and a project that wins no prize is not excluded from one. Prizes and interview opportunities are decided separately, against different criteria.
- 11Number of opportunities
- A maximum of ten fast-track interview opportunities may be put forward per hackathon. This is an upper limit and not a commitment that ten will be offered: the number depends on the projects submitted and on Amazon's hiring requirements at the time, and may be fewer, or none.
Something unclear?
Ask us before the clock starts, not after. We would much rather answer a question than disqualify a project.