Methodology
Trust is our core standard. This document outlines how records are discovered, verified by humans, and curated for accuracy.
1. Qualification Standards
A project qualifies when it received a named award at an official hackathon — a grand prize, category/track win, sponsor bounty, community choice, or finalist placement.
Participation alone does not qualify. Self-promoted claims or informal shortlists without official event recognition are excluded.
2. Verifiable Public Sources
Every entry requires at least one public source confirming the win: official winner galleries (Devpost, DoraHacks), organizer blog posts, or verified press releases.
Claims lacking public corroboration are rejected or flagged as unverified pending human review.
3. Human Verification Pipeline
Submissions are checked by maintainers who verify the project name, builder list, hackathon edition, and specific prize won.
The exact review date is stamped on the record as checked_at. If a source link decays, the record is flagged for replacement rather than silently discarded.
4. Controlled Taxonomies
Technologies and categories use strictly curated taxonomies in YAML to prevent tag fragmentation (e.g. preventing 'React.js', 'react-js', and 'React' from splitting).
5. Deduplication & Integrity
When a project enters multiple hackathons, each entry links back to the central project ID. Automated CI checks detect duplicate URLs and repository collisions on every PR.
Transparent & Open Source
All verification rules, duplicate scripts, and schemas are publicly viewable in our repository. Anyone can audit or propose corrections to any record.