We have you Covered

Q. Do I need to already have a great solution?

Not at all. The hackathon is designed to help teams develop an idea, not arrive with a finished solution. Start with a problem or question that interests you. The expert panel, resources, and feedback will help you build from there.

Q. I’m a first-year student. Can I really contribute?

Absolutely. No prior research, policy, or technical experience is required. First-year students bring fresh perspectives and are encouraged to participate. What matters is curiosity, willingness to learn, and what you bring to your team.

Q. What do I gain by participating?

Beyond tackling an important real-world challenge, the hackathon gives you an opportunity to:

1. Win cash prizes : $1000 First Prize | $800 Second Prize | $600 Third Prize

2. Build your network : Connect with 5C alumni, experts, and professionals working across technology, media, public policy, behavioral science, and related fields.

3. Incubate your idea : Winning teams can move beyond the pitch to prototype and test their solutions across the 5C campuses.

4. Build professional experience : Add an interdisciplinary, evidence-based project to your résumé, portfolio, or future applications and demonstrate experience in research, problem-solving, teamwork, and pitching ideas.

Q. Who can participate?

The hackathon is open to students across the 5Cs: Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Scripps, Pitzer, and Harvey Mudd.

Q. How many people should be on a team?

Each team should have 2 to 4 members.

Q. How should we build our team?

Multidisciplinary teams are highly encouraged. Consider bringing together students from different disciplines, class years, and 5C campuses.

Election misinformation involves human behavior, social relationships, media, technology, incentives, and institutions. Different perspectives can help teams see parts of the problem that a single discipline might miss.

Q. Do all four members need to be from different majors or campuses?

No. Diversity across disciplines, class years, and campuses is encouraged, not required. Focus on building a team whose members bring different perspectives, knowledge, or skills.

Q. Do I need to know how to code?

No. This is not a coding competition. A solution might use technology, but it could also focus on human behavior, social networks, education, journalism, institutional practices, platform design, or another evidence-based approach.

Q. How big should our problem be?

Specific is better. Teams do not need to “solve misinformation.”

Identify a particular problem or mechanism that could realistically be changed; for example, why people share information without checking it, how peers influence what people believe and share, or how features of digital platforms affect what receives attention.

Q. What does “evidence-based” mean?

Your solution should be grounded in research or credible evidence about the problem and the mechanism driving it.

A useful way to think about it is:

What is happening?  Why is it happening? What could change it? How would we know if it worked?

Q. How much research is expected?

Enough to demonstrate that your team understands the problem and has a reason to believe the proposed intervention could work. You should be able to explain the problem, evidence, mechanism, intervention, and how you would evaluate it.

Q. What counts as a prototype?

A prototype is simply a way to make your idea concrete enough to see or test how it might work.

It could be a mock-up, activity, communication intervention, workshop, platform feature, small experiment, educational tool, or another demonstration of your idea. It does not need to be a finished product.

Q. Does our solution have to address the entire 2026 midterm election?

No. The challenge focuses on election information integrity, but teams should identify a specific and manageable problem rather than trying to address the entire information ecosystem.

Q. Can we use AI?

Yes, where appropriate. AI can support brainstorming, research, analysis, or prototyping. Teams remain responsible for checking sources, evaluating evidence, and understanding and defending the ideas they submit.

Q. What happens if our team makes the Top 5?

The Top 5 teams will have an opportunity to further develop their ideas before presenting their final pitch to a panel of 5C alumni judges.

Q. What happens to the winning solutions?

The hackathon does not have to end with the final pitch. Winning teams will have an opportunity to prototype and test their solutions across the 5C campuses, turning promising ideas into interventions that can be tried in a real campus environment.

Q. What if I’m still not sure my idea is good enough?

Apply. The goal is not to find students who already have the answer. It is to bring together students willing to ask a good question, examine the evidence, and build something worth testing. Attend the office hours.