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MICROSOFT JAVASCRIPT AI BUILD‐A‐THON HACK CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES
These Official Rules (“Rules”) govern the operation of the Microsoft JavaScript AI Build-a-thon Hack Contest (“Contest”). Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA, 98052, USA, is the Contest sponsor (“Sponsor”).
In these Rules, "Microsoft", "we", "our", and "us" refer to Sponsor and “you” and "yourself" refers to a Contest participant, or the parent/legal guardian of any Contest entrant who has not reached the age of majority to contractually obligate themselves in their legal place of residence. “Team” and “Teams” refers to a group of up to four (4) Contest participants working together to produce a single entry. By entering you (your parent/legal guardian if you are not the age of majority in your legal place of residence) agree to be bound by these Rules.
The Contest starts at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time (“PT”) on March 13, 2026, and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on March 31, 2026 (“Entry Period”).
To enter, you must be eighteen (18) years of age or older. If you are eighteen (18) years of age or older but have not reached the age of majority in your legal place of residence, then you must have consent of a parent/legal guardian.
Employees and directors of Microsoft Corporation and its subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising agencies, and Contest Parties are not eligible, nor are persons involved in the execution or administration of this Contest, or the family members of each above (parents, children, siblings, spouse/domestic partners, or individuals residing in the same household). Void in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Region of Crimea, Russia, and where otherwise prohibited by law.
To register to participate in the Contest, complete the following steps:
- Visit the contest website at https://innovationstudio.microsoft.com/hackathons/JS-AI-Build-a-thon-Hack URL (“Contest Website”)
- Register to participate in the Contest as an individual entrant or as part of a Team.
- Each individual entrant may join up to three (3) different Teams.
To create an entry, complete the following steps:
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Build an AI-powered project using JavaScript (a “Solution”) that aligns with the Agents for Impacts Challenge: taking action to solve real-world challenges, as further described on the Contest Website.
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Once you have finished building your Solution, upload the code to a publicly accessible GitHub repository.
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Publish a technical blog describing your Solution on a publicly available platform of your choice. Your technical blog must include the following content:
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A statement of the problem your Solution is intended to address;
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Description of your Solution and how it works;
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How you built your Solution; and
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Your technical blog must be publicly accessible in order to be eligible.
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Post a video pitch on a publicly accessible platform of your choice (i.e. YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook)
- A statement of the problem your Solution is intended to address;
- Description of your Solution and how it works;
- How you built your Solution;
- A demonstration of your Solution in action;
- Your video pitch must be publicly accessible; and
- Your video pitch must be approximately three (3) to five (5) minutes in length.
To submit an entry, visit the Contest Website and follow the instructions to register and submit your entry. This will include providing a link to your Solution’s GitHub repository, your technical blog post, and your video pitch.
To enter to receive an AI-Powered Builder Award, each individual entrant or member of a Team must:
- Create a new account or use an existing account on discord.com (“Discord”); and
- Either (a) already be a verified member of the #js-ai-build-a-thon Discord channel, or (b) join the #jsai-build-a-thon Discord channel that is accessible via https://aka.ms/JSAIonDiscord; and
- Make one (1) or more posts in the #js-ai-build-a-thon Discord channel that:
- Share your prompts & prompt engineering strategies
- Document your AI tools & workflows, such as how you used GitHub Copilot, AI Toolkit, Copilot CLI, or other AI-assisted tools
- Post tips, answer questions, and share what you're learning
- Share what worked and what didn't while building your Solution
The entry limit is one (1) per Team and three (3) per individual entrant. Any attempt by you to obtain more than the stated number of entries by using multiple/different accounts, email addresses, identities, registrations, logins, or any other methods will void your entries and you may be disqualified. Use of any automated system to participate is prohibited.
We are not responsible for excess, lost, late, or incomplete entries. If disputed, entries will be deemed submitted by the “authorized account holder” of the email address, social media account, or other method used to enter. The “authorized account holder” is the natural person assigned to an email address by an internet or online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses.
To be eligible, an entry must meet the following content/technical requirements:
- Your entry must be your own original work; and
- The video portion of your entry must be solely the work of the team, including but not limited to, the actual filming, editing, graphic design, etc. of the video.
- Your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other contest; and
- You must have obtained all consents, approvals, or licenses required for you to submit your entry; and
- To the extent that entry requires the submission of user-generated content such as software, photos, videos, music, artwork, essays, etc., entrants warrant that their entry is their original work, has not been copied from others without permission or apparent rights, and does not violate the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other rights of any other person or entity. You may include Microsoft trademarks, logos, and designs, for which Microsoft grants you a limited license to use for the sole purposes of submitting an entry into this Contest; and
- Your entry may NOT contain, as determined by us in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that is obscene or offensive, violent, defamatory, disparaging, or illegal, or that promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco or a particular political agenda, or that communicates messages that may reflect negatively on the goodwill of Microsoft.
We are not claiming ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting an entry, you grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this Contest and use your entry in any media whatsoever now known or later invented for any non-commercial or commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, the marketing, sale or promotion of Microsoft products or services, without further permission from you. You will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these Official Rules.
By entering you acknowledge that we may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your entry and you waive any claims resulting from any similarities to your entry. Further, you understand that we will not restrict work assignments of representatives who have had access to your entry, and you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under this agreement or copyright or trade secret law.
Your entry may be posted on a public website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. We are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry.
Pending confirmation of eligibility, potential prize winners will be selected by Microsoft, our designated agent, or a qualified judging panel from among all eligible entries received based on the following judging criteria:
- 25% - Depth of AI Integration
- 20% - Technical Implementation & User Experience
- 15% - Use of Responsible AI Patterns
- 15% - Solution Value (Potential of your solution to solve real-world problems)
- 10% - Innovation & Creativity
- 10% - Documentation & Storytelling
- 5% - Compliance with the following Award Categories:
Grand Prize: This prize will be awarded to the strongest overall Solution across all criteria (multi-quest integration)
Offline-Ready AI Award: This prize will be awarded to the best performing AI solution with standout local inference
Agentic System Architecture Award: This prize will be awarded to the agentic design that is useful, reliable, and secure. Strongest safeguards, transparency, ethical and responsible design choices throughout the AI workflow
- 40% – Effective Use of AI Tools: How well the team used AI tools during development to help design, build, improve, or accelerate their solution.
- 30% – Prompt Quality: How clear and thoughtful the team’s prompts were in guiding AI tools to produce desired results.
- 30% – AI-Driven Idea or Innovation: How creatively AI is used as part of the core idea or functionality of the solution.
Winners will be selected from among all eligible entries received within fourteen (14) days following the Entry Period. In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, an additional judge will break the tie based on the judging criteria described above. The decisions of the judges are final and binding. If we do not receive enough entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of Contest Prizes described below. If public vote determines winners, it is prohibited for any person to obtain votes by any fraudulent or inappropriate means, including offering prizes or other inducements in exchange for votes, automated programs or fraudulent i.d’s. Microsoft will void any questionable votes.
Potential winners will be notified via the contact information provided during entry no more than seven (7) days following judging with prize claim instructions, including submission deadlines. The winners will be announced publicly via blog post within seven (7) days after winner notification. If a selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim a prize or fails to return any forms, the selected winner will forfeit their prize and an alternate winner will be selected. If you are a potential winner and you are eighteen (18) years of age or older but have not reached the age of majority in your legal place of residence, we may require your parent/legal guardian to sign all required forms on your behalf. Only three (3) alternate winners will be selected, after which unclaimed prizes will remain unawarded.
The following prizes will be awarded to individual entrants or Teams based on the judging criteria in Rule 8.1(a) above:
- One (1) Grand Prize. Each winning Team will receive: A cash prize, which will awarded in a form (i.e. check, direct deposit, gift card) to be mutually agreed by Microsoft and the winner. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) $1,000.00 USD.
- One (1) Offline-Ready AI Award Prize. Each winning Team will receive: A cash prize, which will awarded in a form (i.e. check, direct deposit, gift card) to be mutually agreed by Microsoft and the winner. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) $500.00 USD.
- One (1) Agentic System Architecture Award Prize. Each winning Team will receive: A cash prize, which will awarded in a form (i.e. check, direct deposit, gift card) to be mutually agreed by Microsoft and the winner. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) $500.00 USD.
The following prizes will be awarded to individual entrants or individual members of a Team based on the judging criteria in Rule 8.1(b) above:
- Ten (10) AI Powered Builder Award Prizes. Each winner will receive: A one (1) year GitHub Copilot Pro+ subscription. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) $390.00 USD.
The ARV of electronic prizes is subject to price fluctuations in the consumer marketplace based on, among other things, any gap in time between the date the ARV is estimated for purposes of these Official Rules and the date the prize is awarded or redeemed. We will determine the value of the prize to be the fair market value at the time of prize award.
The total Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of all prizes: 5,900.00 USD
We will only award one (1) prize per person during the Entry Period. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded. No substitution, transfer, or assignment of prize permitted, except that Microsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event the offered prize is unavailable. Microsoft products awarded as prizes are awarded “AS IS” and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied (including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement); you assume the entire risk of quality and performance, and should the prizes prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing or repair. This is so even if the Microsoft product mentions a warranty on its packaging, in a manual, or in marketing materials; no warranty applies to Microsoft products awarded as prizes. Microsoft does not give any warranty of any kind, express or implied (including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose) on products made by a company other than Microsoft that are awarded as prizes. Please contact the manufacturer to see if it is covered by that company’s warranty.
Prizes will be sent no later than twenty-eight (28) days after winner selection. Prize winners may be required to complete and return prize claim and/or tax forms (“Forms”) within the deadline stated in the winner notification. Taxes on the prize, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner, who is advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. By accepting a prize, you agree that Microsoft may use your entry, name, image and hometown online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this Contest without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.
The odds of winning are based on the number of eligible entries received.
To the extent allowed by law, by entering you agree to release and hold harmless Microsoft and its respective parents, partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss, or damage of any kind arising in connection with this Contest or any prize won.
All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. In the event of a dispute, the decisions of Microsoft are final and binding.
We reserve the right to cancel, change, or suspend this Contest for any reason without prior notice, including, but not limited to, cheating, technology failure, catastrophe, war, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that affects the integrity of this Contest, whether human or mechanical. If the integrity of the Contest cannot be restored, we may select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Contest.
If you attempt or we have strong reason to believe that you have compromised the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Contest by cheating, hacking, creating a bot or other automated program, or by committing fraud in any way, we may seek damages from you to the full extent of the law and you may be banned from participation in future Microsoft promotions.
Personal data you provide while entering this Contest will be used by Microsoft and/or its agents and prize fulfillers acting on Microsoft’s behalf only for the administration and operation of this Contest and in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
This Contest will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Washington for any disputes arising out of this Contest.
Send an email to juliamuiruri@microsoft.com with the subject line “JavaScript AI Build-a-thon Hack Contest winners” within thirty (30) days of March 31, 2026 to receive a list of winners that received a prize worth $25.00 USD or more.