The ultimate internal hackathon template and planning kit

Running an internal hackathon involves more than setting a date and booking a room. It requires cross-departmental alignment, a clear hackathon agenda, defined submission requirements, and a plan for proving business value after the event. Without the right structure, it's easy to end up with what practitioners call "innovation theater"—an engaging day with no measurable output.

This kit gives you the operational blueprint to avoid that. Whether you're running your first internal hackathon or standardizing a recurring program, the hackathon template and planning kit below cover everything from event setup to post-event reporting. 

What's in the internal hackathon planning kit

The kit includes five resources covering the full arc of internal hackathon planning:

• Internal hackathon template. A ready-to-use blueprint for your internal event page—covering how to write your hackathon description, define your audience, outline the challenge, and set clear submission requirements.
• Participant resource checklist. A checklist covering what to provide participants so they have what they need to build well, like tools, documentation, support channels, and more.
• Sample judging rubric. A scoring framework that helps participants focus their projects and keeps evaluation transparent and consistent across reviewers.
• Pre-hackathon workback schedule. A planning timeline built backward from launch day to help scope out the hackathon and avoid missing any key dependencies.
• Hackathon reporting framework. A metrics framework for proving team engagement and long-term impact to leadership after the event, which ultimately makes the case for running the next one.

Why internal hackathons are worth the planning effort

Internal hackathons work because they create a structured, time-bound environment for experimentation, cross-team collaboration, and rapid prototyping outside the normal sprint cycle. For organizations investing in AI adoption, they're one of the more direct ways to get engineering teams—and your broader org— working with new tools in a low-stakes setting.

The output isn't just ideas. Teams leave with working prototypes, documentation, and a clear read on which experiments are worth pursuing further. If you're new to internal hackathon formats, it's worth understanding the different structures before you start planning. The right format depends on your team size, goals, and timeline.

For a deeper look at running the event itself, see how to plan and run an internal hackathon. The planning kit below handles the templates; that post handles the strategy.

A template can help you plan your event, but it can't run it. Devpost for Teams handles the infrastructure—private project submissions, team formation, secure judging, and event management in one place—so your team can focus on the innovation rather than the administration. Book a demo to see how it works.

Download the internal hackathon planning kit

Download the planning kit to get the hackathon template, judging rubric, workback schedule, and reporting framework sent straight to your inbox.