Eligibility

You are eligible to enter if you meet the following requirements at time of entry:

• You are at least 18 years of age, or the minimum age of majority in your place of residence at the time of entry.
• You are a citizen of and reside in any country except: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Belarus, Sudan/South Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela, Burma (Myanmar), Libya, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Palestine, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Russian occupied regions of Ukraine.
• All winners must become verified members.
• You are not involved in the execution or administration of this Contest.
• If selected as a winner you must create an account through our payment vendor The New Money Company of San Francisco, Inc.
• You are not a Hackster, Avnet or Sponsor employee or an immediate family member or household member of a Hackster employee or otherwise engaged in the execution or administration of this Contest.

Submission requirements

To be eligible for judging, you must meet ALL of the following requirements unless otherwise stated:

General Requirements

• You must be registered as a participant for this contest.
• Your entry must be your own original work.
• Your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other Hackster contest.
• Your team is no more than 5 members per entry.*

*By entering a submission to this contest on behalf of a team, you acknowledge that you are the designated representative authorized to act on behalf of your team. (See full rules below for details)

Hardware/Software Build Requirements

• Your project must be eligible for one of the prize categories (e.g. Illuminated Interaction, Pop Culture Perfection, Upgraded Gaming)

Project Documentation Requirements

• Your project must include a project name, short project description, cover image, bill of materials (BOM), full instructions, images, and relevant resource files (schematics, code, CAD).
• Your project must be written in English.
• Your project must be submitted by Jan 6, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT.

Judging criteria

Your project will be judged according to the rubric below. There is a possibility of earning 100 total points. The judge's vote is final.

• Spirit of the Challenge (25 points)
  Judges are able to decide how much the project has embraced the prize category and overall spirit of the challenge to provide the related amount of points. The amount of points could come from integrating particular features the judge mentioned in the prize category or from a grading scale from the judge assigning different amounts to each applicants project or any other process determined by the judge(s). Additionally, in the spirit of the Junk Drawer Competition, your project should have been created in 2025 (ideally in December). If your project was created prior to this year, you should detail what major changes and updates you made to revive or reimagine your project in the "Story" section of your project.
• Creativity (25 points)
  Your idea doesn’t have to be original, but it should be creative (a fresh take on an old idea is often worth as much as a brand new idea). Adding artistic flairs to the project, making the project look as if it is form the future, using bright colors or other unique materials, and high end photos all go towards earning more creativity points.
• Project Documentation (25 points)
  Judges will look for a fully documented and complete project. Show the journey on how you created your project, including images, screenshots, and/or a video demonstration of your solution working as intended. Ask yourself: “If I were a beginner reading this project, would I understand how to recreate it?”
• BOM, Schematics & Code (25 points)
  Spend the time building out a complete BOM, creating an accurate schemative and well commented code. It is worth big points so do not skip these items.

How to enter

Step 1: Register for the Contest

• Start by creating a free account on Hackster.io (or sign-in if already a member).
• Register for the contest by clicking “Register as a participant”.

Step 2: Build and Document Your Project

• Build your project according to the submission requirements.
• Document your project build using Hackster’s project template. To create a new project, click “create new project” on the contest page or the “+” symbol in the top right corner of your Hackster page.

Step 3: Review and submit your project

• Review your project and make sure it meets all the submission requirements.
• Upload a previously created project by clicking “add existing project” on the contest page.
• Submit your project by Jan 6, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT by clicking “review and submit project” on the contest page.

Full rules

These are the Specific Contest Rules (“Specific Rules”) that govern participation in the Junk Drawer Competition (“Contest”) organized by Hackster.io, an Avnet community (“Hackster”), and its sponsors(hereinafter referred to as the “Sponsor”) in relation to any individual (hereinafter referred to as an “Entrant”) who enters, attempts to enter or in any way participates or attempts to participate in this Contest.

In these Specific Rules, “we,” “our”, and “us” refer to Hackster and/or the Contest Sponsor. “You” and “yourself” refer to an Entrant. The full rules for this Contest also include the Official General Contest Rules (“General Rules”) posted at https://www.hackster.io/contest-rules and all eligibility, requirements, and judging criteria recorded in the “rules” tab of this Contest page. In the event there is a discrepancy or inconsistency between the General Rules and these Specific Rules, the Specific Rules shall control.

Contest description:

This is a skill-based contest brought to you by Hackster.io. For the purposes of this contest, each idea you submit will be called a “hardware application” and each project you submit in the contest will be called an “entry”. All eligible entries received will be judged using the judging criteria above to determine the final prize winners.

What are the start and end dates?

Contest starts at Dec 2, 2025 at 12:00 PM PT and ends at Jan 6, 2026 at 11:59 PM PTand will consist of the following periods:.

• Contest projects submission period: Dec 2, 2025 at 12:00 PM PT through Jan 6, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT
• Contest winners will be announced on Feb 6, 2026 at 5:00 PM PT.

Note: Contest end dates are at the sole discretion of Hackster and/or the contest sponsor and may be subject to change.

Can I enter?

If your participation violates ANY of the following, you may be disqualified.

• Your entry must be your own original work.
• Your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other Hackster contest.
• You must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for you to submit your entry.
• Your entry may not include any third party trademarks (logos, names) or copyrighted materials (music, images, video, recognizable people, code, schematics etc...) unless you have obtained permission to use the materials.
• Your entry must comply with your employer’s gift policies.

Hardware applications and/or project entries may NOT contain ANY of the following content:

• Content that is sexually explicit.
• Content that is unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group.
• Content that is profane or pornographic.
• Content that promotes illegal drugs, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or a particular political agenda.
• Content that is obscene or offensive.
• Content that defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies.
• Content that communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which we wish to associate.
• Content that violates any law.

We reserve the right to reject an entry, in our sole and absolute discretion, that we determine contains any of the above content.

Important note about Copyright: Your entire entry must only include material (including hardware, source code – both open source and third party sourced, user interface, music, video or images) that you own or that you have permission from the copyright/trademark owner to use. Your and/or your team’s entry may not include copyrighted materials (such as source code, user interface, background music, images or video) unless you own or have permission to use the materials. Ownership is not defined as purchasing a CD at a music store for replay, if playing a copyrighted recording on your guitar or repurposing an application’s user interface – your entry may be disqualified if copyrighted materials, including but not limited to these examples, are a part of your entry without appropriate licensing or permissions. If you do use permissible copyrighted materials, you must include the permissions information by citing the artist/creator and license information. Note that even material released under sites such as Creative Commons, common open source code licenses, and other similar licensing may need permission or acknowledgement as per the specific license.

Can I enter this contest as a team?

You can enter as a team of no more than five members.

The following requirements must be satisfied to participate in this contest as a team:

• Your team must choose one individual (the “representative”) to speak for, act, and enter a project submission on behalf of your team.
• Each individual team member must meet ALL of the eligibility and contest requirements outlined in the full rules.

How will my entry be potentially used?

Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting your entry, you agree to ALL of the following statements:

• You grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to: (i) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this contest; and (ii) feature your entry and all content in connection with the marketing, sale, or promotion of this contest (including but not limited to internal and external sales meetings, conference presentations, tradeshows, and screen shots of this contest entry in press releases) in all media (now known or later developed).
• You agree to sign any necessary documentation that may be required for us and our designees to make use of the rights you granted above.
• You understand that after the submission deadline has passed, any project that has been submitted to the contest cannot be deleted or made private and will remain on the contest page after the contest has concluded.
• You understand and acknowledge that the sponsor(s) may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your submission and you waive any claims you may have resulting from any similarities to your entry.
• You understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these full rules.

Please note that following the end of this contest your entry may be posted on a website selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry. If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this contest.

How are prizes awarded?

Limit one (1) prize per person or team. 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 a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of contest prizes described in the contest brief.

If you are a potential winner, we will notify you by sending a message to the e-mail address, the phone number, or mailing address (if any) provided at time of entry within seven (7) days following completion of judging. If the notification that we send is returned as undeliverable, or you are otherwise unreachable for any reason, we may award to a runner-up. If there is a dispute as to who is the potential winner, we will consider the potential winner to be the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter the contest. If you are a potential winner, we may require you to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability/Publicity Release and/or a W-9 tax form or W-8 BEN tax form within 10 days of notification. If you complete a tax form, you will be issued an IRS Form 1099 the following January for the actual value of the prize. You are advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. If you are a potential winner and you are 18 or older, but are considered a minor in your place of legal residence, we may require your parent or legal guardian to sign all required forms on your behalf. If you do not complete the required forms as instructed and/or return the required forms within the time period listed on the winner notification message, we may disqualify you and select a runner-up.If you are confirmed as a winner of this contest, the following rules apply:

If you are confirmed as a winner of this contest, the following rules apply:

• You may not designate someone else as the winner. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, we may award it to a runner up.
• You will be solely responsible for all applicable federal, state, and local taxes related to accepting the prize, if you choose to accept the prize.
• If a prize is awarded to a project submitted by a team, the designated representative will be the sole recipient of said prize, unless otherwise agreed upon in writing by the representative and their team.
• Unless otherwise noted, all prizes are subject to their manufacturer’s warranty and/or terms and conditions.

What other conditions am I agreeing to by entering?

By entering this contest you are agreeing to the following statements:

• You agree to abide by these full rules.
• You agree to abide by the policies outlined on Hackster’s website, including our Terms of Service, Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy.
• You agree to release and hold harmless Hackster, [sponsor name] and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this contest, or any prize won.
• You agree that your personal data including your name, email address, personal address, phone number, and any other personal information disclosed during the duration of this contest may be shared with and used by Hackster and [sponsor name] in order to facilitate the execution of this contest.
• You agree that Hackster’s decisions will be final and binding on all matters related to this contest.
• You agree that, by accepting a prize, Hackster may use your proper name and state of residence 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.

What laws govern the way this contest is executed and administered?

This contest will be governed by the laws of the State of Arizona, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Arizona for any disputes arising out of this contest.

What if something unexpected happens and the contest cannot run as planned?

If someone cheats, or a virus, bug, bot, catastrophic event, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, (also referred to as force majeure) affects the fairness and/or integrity of this contest, we reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this contest. This right is reserved whether the event is due to human or technical error. If a solution cannot be found to restore the integrity of the contest, we reserve the right to 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 fullest extent permitted by law. Further, we may disqualify you, and ban you from participating in any of our future contests.

Who do I contact about this contest?

If you have any questions or comments regarding this contest, please email us at contests@hackster.io.