The most useful thing I ever received from a hackathon panel was two sentences written on a scoring sheet after a loss. The least useful was a trophy with no explanation. When I evaluate student projects, written feedback for every team is the part I treat as non-negotiable, because it is the only part that changes what they do next.

Tie it to the rubric

"Great energy, keep going" helps nobody. "Problem clarity 8/10: the farmer example landed; Working solution 4/10: the recommendation was hard-coded — show one real inference next time" tells a team exactly where they stand and why. Feedback attached to a criterion is feedback a team can act on.

One strength, one fix

Students remember two things at most after a long day. Give them the strongest thing they did — specifically — and the single change that would have moved their score most. Lists of eight improvements become zero improvements.

Separate the pitch from the product

Teams often cannot tell whether they lost on communication or on substance, and the two fixes are completely different. Say which it was. I lost with STROT largely on the pitch; a judge telling me that clearly would have saved me weeks of second-guessing the system.

Ask before you tell

In Q&A, one good question — "what did you cut, and why?" or "what happens when the API is down?" — teaches more than a comment. It also tells you whether the team understands their own project, which is what you are actually scoring.

Write it down, and be reachable

  • Two written sentences per team, handed to organisers to distribute.
  • A five-minute open window after results for teams who want to ask.
  • For the teams that impressed you, a way to follow up. Some of the best mentoring relationships start at a judging table.

Judging is a teaching role with a scoresheet. Organisers who want a judge who works this way can find me through the campus invite page.

— Pranjul Rathour, GenAI Engineer from Kanpur, India. Open to GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks at any campus: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com.