Live · Year 01 · In Progress
The handbook is
being written.
Right now.
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Contributions
Across all 3 phases · updated live
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Contributors
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Topics Mapped
An Annual Hackathon Handbook, Written by the Community, for the Community.
No single voice.
No outdated guides.
Just builders,
helping builders.
We see newcomers show up to hackathons with zero direction. They have so many questions, but hackathons are too fast to allow that.
Most of the guides out there are either outdated, lacking depth, or just way too academic. You get the "what," but never the actual "how" and "why", so you're left scrambling through the real parts on your own.
The community has the knowledge, but it's buried in a thousand random conversations with seniors, mentors, and within Discord groups. We're missing a resource that actually covers the messy hackathon reality — everything from scrounging for a team on Discord at 2:00 AM to surviving the "demo-day curse" when your front-end suddenly stops talking to the blockchain.
Genesis is an annual hackathon handbook where the community converges to architect and compile a definitive guide. Instead of a single voice attempting to cover everything, we crowdsource expertise, each contributor documenting exactly what they know best.
The result is a resource that's more comprehensive, balanced, and current than any individual could ever produce. It's updated annually, forged from real hackathon experience, and entirely owned by the community.
Each year, contributions open to anyone with hackathon experience. Together, they write the handbook through three structured phases.
Contributors propose topics they believe belong in the guide. Everything is on the table.
Contributors write descriptions for each topic compiled from Phase 1.
For each topic, contributors selectively add their tips, insights, and real-world advice.
Each phase runs with 3–5 days between them to consolidate. After each phase, submissions are reviewed and synthesized by AI into a single, balanced unified voice.
Topics evolve each year based on what contributors surface. Year 1 — shaped by real experience, not assumptions.
A contribution is a small, focused unit — one person sharing one thing they know well. Below is a real submission from Phase 02 — Describe It, showing exactly what we ask for.
By the time judges reach your booth, they've already seen ten demos. They're tired, they're hungry, and their pattern-matching is on autopilot. The hackathon doesn't end when you stop coding — it ends when you make a fatigued stranger care about your project in under three minutes.
A demo isn't a feature tour. It's a story arc. Open with the problem so the judges feel it. Then show the fix — but only the parts that actually matter. Cut everything else. If your live demo can break, assume it will, and have a 30-second recording ready as backup. Own the failure if it happens; judges respect composure more than perfection.
Written by the community. For the community. Every year.
Read Edition 01All contribution tasks live in our Discord. Pick what you want to work on, submit when you're ready. Filtering happens at submission review, not at entry.
Join the Genesis DiscordAnyone with hackathon experience. You don't need to know everything. You just need to have been there. Pick a task in Discord and submit when you're ready.
People who believe in this problem and want to help shape how Genesis grows, operates, and sustains. From designers to developers — DM us in Discord.
"Every hackathon leaves behind knowledge and lessons. Let's build Genesis and put them all in one place."