In 2020, Chainlink hosted its first online hackathon. At the time, DeFi as a category was just starting to boom, and NFTs were just getting started. The hackathon attracted over 1,000 registered participants from 45+ countries and received submissions from 70+ projects.
Since then, every Chainlink Hackathon has been bigger, better, and more professional than the last.
This blog provides an in-depth look atConstellation, the largest Chainlink hackathon to date, taking place November 8-12, 2023 Held on October 10th. Read on to learn about prize distribution, technical advice, judging criteria, as well as learning paths and technical workshops.
Constellation: Chainlink Hackathon
Gather your team, grab the tools, and get ready to go
Constellation gives all Web3 engineers, regardless of experience level, a simple and clear path to success. Developers can use the Chainlink platform as a unified interface to connect to any blockchain. Every year, Web3 developers have the opportunity to leverage cutting-edge infrastructure primitives to change the way people think about and use Web3, and for Constellation participants, the moment is now.
The Chainlink platform is being used throughout the Web3 ecosystem to enhance the capabilities of various Web3 applications, from DeFi to NFTs, artificial intelligence, games, cross-chain and more. We encourage all hackathon participants to strive to achieve new breakthroughs in areas they are passionate about through creative applications of Chainlink services.
In Constellation, the possibilities are endless. Constellation’s prizes and awards are designed to encourage developers to showcase their limitless creativity, no matter how innovative their ideas are. In past hackathons, teams built fully functional minimum viable products (MVPs) and presented them to win prizes, deploy to mainnet, and kick-start their entrepreneurial journey. In short, if you can imagine it, you can make it happen on Constellation.
Awards and tracks
A breakdown of Chainlink’s core prizes at the Constellation Hackathon
Constellation offers prize money totaling up to $350,000 (and likely rising) spread across seven core tracks:
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Grand Prize (Total Prize: $25,000): Regardless of a specific vertical or theme, the Constellation Grand Prize will be awarded to the project that achieves the best performance among all Hackathon teams.
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DeFi and Payments (DeFi and Payments: $22,500): Build the next generation of fast DeFi applications that will become the financial infrastructure of the future. New oracle primitives like Chainlink Data Streams (already used by leading derivatives protocol GMX) are your opportunity to elevate DeFi into rapid adoption.
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Cross-Chain Solutions (Cross-Chain Solutions: $22,500): Chainlink CCIP is leading a new era of secure cross-chain development: only Two months after its launch, more than 80 projects are actively integrating CCIP. This is your chance to build on future-proof standards and stay ahead of the curve with cross-chain applications.
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Web3 Gaming and Dynamic NFTs (Web3 Gaming and Dynamic NFTs: $15,000): Dynamic NFTs Expands the design space for Web3 games and NFT collections , unlocking new forms of gamification. Developers can use Chainlink VRF, Functions, and Automation 2.0 faster Build these next-generation apps with even more capabilities.
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SocialFi Innovation (SocialFi Innovation: $15,000): Friendtech shows what is possible when Web3 meets social. DAO is pioneering new forms of social collaboration. This vertical is full of opportunities for innovation. Connect Web2 scalability and user experience with verifiable Web3 compute and services using Chainlink.
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Web3 and AI (Web3 and Artificial Intelligence: $15,000): Two technology frontiers, now throughChainlink FunctionsConnect. Hackathon developers can connect AI to smart contracts in minutes and build something great in a month.
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Tech for Good (Tech for Good: $15,000): Whether it’s regenerative finance (ReFi) or Web3 protocols that enable accessibility, the Tech for Good grant is for those passionate about building Hackathon participants with products, projects, and protocols that can create positive change in the world.
In addition to the above award track, 20 high-quality project bonuses, each worth $500, will be awarded to projects that achieve outstanding applications.
Important:Developers wishing to win Chainlink awards must use at least one in the submission process that can make a state change on the blockchain Chainlink service, will be considered valid. This means that simply reading data from a Chainlink data source is not considered a valid submission for Chainlink Core Awards.
Technical advice and review criteria
Chainlink is a decentralized computing platform powering verifiable networks.
Constellation Hackathon project submissions will be evaluated using a scoring system that takes into account a variety of factors including user experience, technical implementation, practicality, and creativity. Winning projects often have creative, polished and practical products that greatly advance the possibilities of Web3 technology.
While all project submissions will be fully evaluated, additional points will be given to projects that meaningfully use multiple Chainlink services within their projects. For example, using two services will earn you an additional two points, while using three different services will earn you an additional three points, and so on. You can view Chainlink’s full list of decentralized computing serviceshere.
Learning paths, technical workshops and important links
Whether offline or virtual, Chainlink hackathons bring together the best developers in the Web3 space
Constellation provides its participants with a variety of educational materials, technical workshops, live support and project feedback to meet the needs of developers of all experience levels.
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Beginners:Constellation provides dedicated beginner learning materials to help first-time developers and Web2 developers quickly learn the basics of blockchain, smart contracts, and oracle technology Knowledge. If you invest enough time and effort, Constellation can condense a year's worth of self-study content into one issue in a month.
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Intermediate Developers:For those with a good grasp of the basics of Web3 development, Constellation is available onChainlink Discord< Live technical support is available on a i=3> to help troubleshoot issues, as well as advanced workshops on specific libraries and environments like React, Typescript, and Node.js. This is how you become an expert developer.
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Expert Developers:If you are a professional Web3 developer, Constellation offers in-depth workshops covering the latest tools and techniques that Web3 developers can use in production . Earn free credits to kickstart your ideas, build projects using future-proof technology, learn best security practices, and get ready for mainnet launch.
Although all learning resources are available free of charge, hackathon participants should choose the resources that best suit their experience level.
For more details, please keep an eye onConstellation website, Chainlink Discord accounts. Chainlink X and official
Gather your team, prepare the tools, and launch
The key to Web3's success lies in its developers. Applications are at the heart of any web experience, and our industry is no exception.
Constellation, and the Chainlink Hackathon as a whole, is designed to educate and support each new generation of Web3 developers, giving them the tools, connections, resource support, and prizes they need to build redefining Web3 and take the industry to the next level.
With Chainlink, developers have all the tools they need: scalable blockchain access, secure cross-chain interoperability, and seamless API connectivity. All that's left is to connect the pieces, build breakthrough projects, and establish your assets.