Hackathons in India for students: where to look and how to pick

In a packed college auditorium
In a packed college auditorium

Originally published at https://pranjulrathour.scult.in/blog/hackathons-in-india-for-students-list. That copy is the canonical version and gets updates first.

In one year I competed at IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, CSJMU and a community event run by MeetKats. They were all different in format, seriousness and what winning meant. Students ask me where to find hackathons; the better question is how to choose them.

Where events are announced

  • College fest websites and their Instagram pages — technical fests at IITs, NITs and state universities run hackathons as flagship events.
  • Hackathon platforms and listing sites where organisers post problem statements and registration.
  • Developer communities — local groups like MeetKats in Kanpur, GDG chapters, campus clubs and LinkedIn communities such as TechVerse Enclave.
  • Company-run events tied to a product or API, often with mentors from the company.

Signs of a serious event

  • Named judges with real credentials and a published rubric.
  • Problem statements with a user in them, not just a technology.
  • Mentors available during the build, not only at the opening ceremony.
  • Prizes that are stated precisely, and a schedule that includes rest.

Signs of a certificate mill

  • A registration fee with no venue, mentors or judges named.
  • "Participation certificate guaranteed" as the headline benefit.
  • Judging by online vote.

Plan a season, not a spree

Two or three good events a semester beats ten weak ones. Pick one that is a stretch (a bigger institute, a harder theme), one that is local and repeatable, and one in a domain you care about. Between events, keep shipping the best project — Annapurna went from a BYTEBATTLE prototype to a real platform because we kept working on it (see after the hackathon).

And if your college is organising one and wants a judge or a mentor who has been on both sides recently, the invitation checklist is in inviting a hackathon judge.

Pranjul Rathour at a campus event
Pranjul Rathour at a campus event
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur
From my carousels
Three First Prizes, One Loss
Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 1Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 2
Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 3Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 4
Full carousel on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Pranjul Rathour
Pranjul Rathour
GenAI engineer, Kanpur · 3x first-prize hackathon winner · campus mentor
I ship production RAG pipelines, fine-tune LLMs and build agentic AI products end to end. I lead engineering at SCULT INDIA for a 14-member team and have mentored 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave.
Open to: GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks at colleges.
On stage, at hackathons and on campus
Trophy and certificate of merit at Vividhotsava 2025
Trophy and certificate of merit at Vividhotsava 2025
Walking a room through evaluation criteria
Walking a room through evaluation criteria
Presenting BrandHive
Presenting BrandHive

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