South African Intervarsity Hackathon Submission Template - 2025

Welcome to the official Hackathon Submission Template for the South African Intervarsity Hackathon 2025! This repository is designed to help participants organize their project submissions in a consistent, judge-friendly structure while supporting any tech stack.

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Video links

This was asked so I am doing just in case https://vimeo.com/1118463607 https://vimeo.com/1118465025

📂 Repository Structure

├── assets/
│   └── image/
│   │   ├── Sasol.jpg
│   │   ├── Naspers.png
│   │   ├── Sanlam.jpg
│   │   ├── Shoprite.jpeg
│   │   ├── FNB.png

├── demo/
│   ├── OVERVIEW.md
│   └── README.md
├── docs/
│   ├── ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md
│   ├── SETUP.md
│   ├── TEAM.md
│   └── USAGE.md
├── scripts/
│   └── README.md
│   ├── frontend/
│   │   ├── index.html
│   │   ├── login.html
│   │   ├── css/
│   │   │   ├── script.css
│   │   │   └── script_main.css
│   │   ├── js/
│   │   │   ├── theme.js
│   │   │   └── budget.js

├── vendor/
│   └── README.md
├── .dockerignore
├── .editorconfig
├── .gitattributes
├── .gitignore
├── Dockerfile
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

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🔹 Description of Each Folder/File

• assets/
  All assets used by your project such as images, audio files, 3D models, datasets and so-on, should be placed in this folder.

• demo/
  Your demo video, PowerPoint presentation, Overview readme doc and or any examples should be placed in this folder.

• docs/
  Contains essential documentation about your team and project (these must be written by you):

  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md → References all third-party libraries and sources used
  • SETUP.md → Instructions for installing dependencies and running the project
  • TEAM.md → Team member names, roles, and contact info
  • USAGE.md → Instructions for using or testing the project

• scripts/
  All utility, automation and project-management scripts should be placed in this folder.

• src/
  All source code files should be placed in this folder. You may organize this folder as needed (e.g., backend/, frontend/, lib/, source/ and or include/ folders and so on).

• vendor/
  All third-party libraries, code and or submodules should be placed in this folder along with the appropriate licensing and or references. If you are not able to link the modules from this folder to your codebase properly, you may put the third-party modules inside the src/ folder with the rest of your code however, it must be made clear which modules are third-party, along with their licensing. Since many tech-stacks already use package managers, this vendor/ folder is for self-included libraries, dependencies and submodules. Auto-generated dependency folders like node_modules/ or nuget/ should ideally be ignored by .gitignore.

• .dockerignore
  Excludes build artifacts and other non-essential files from the Docker image. You may delete this file if you do not plan on using Docker.

• .editorconfig
  Standardizes indentation, line endings, and character encoding across editors and platforms. It is highly recommended that you use a text editor/IDE that supports .editorconfig.

• .gitattributes
  Ensures consistent handling of line endings, text, and binary files across different operating systems.

• .gitignore
  Ignores build artifacts, OS files, IDE configs, and other non-essential files to keep the repository clean.

• Dockerfile
  A "quick start" template Dockerfile to serve as a blueprint for containerizing your project in a Docker image. You may delete this file if you do not plan on using Docker.

• LICENSE
  Default license template for your submission (MIT recommended). You must add the names of your team members to this template.

• README.md
  Hey wait, that's me!

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✅ Submission Guidelines

1. Create your project's repo off of this template (click the Use this template button).
2. Fill in the TEAM.md file with your team members’ information.
3. Start hacking!
4. Fill in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md, OVERVIEW.md, SETUP.md, USAGE.md and LICENSE.
5. Link or include your demo video & PowerPoint in the demo/ folder.
6. Optional: Include additional documentation and design notes in docs/.
7. Optional: Include unit tests in tests/.
8. Submit the link to your public GitHub repository.

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📑 Documentation Checklist

File	Required?	Notes
TEAM.md	✅	Must list all team members, their roles, and institutions
OVERVIEW.md	✅	High-level description of your project and its purpose
SETUP.md	✅	Instructions to install dependencies and run the project
USAGE.md	✅	How to use/test the project after setup
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md	✅	Credit all third-party libraries, datasets, and resources used
LICENSE	✅	Include license type and add your team members’ names
tests/	Optional	Add test scripts or instructions if relevant
Dockerfile	Optional	Only if you choose to containerize your project
Extra docs	Optional	Additional guides, design notes, or API references

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📌 Tips & Other Remarks

• Keep your code and assets organized within the src/ and assets/ directories.
• Use .editorconfig and .gitattributes to avoid formatting and line-ending issues.
• Follow the folder structure strictly — it will make judging smoother and faster.
• It is highly recommended that you use Docker for your submission however, it is not required. If you opt to not use Docker, please ensure that your setup instructions in SETUP.md are straightforward, correct, comprehensive and cross-platform (if applicable) to ensure that your submission will be graded properly.
• It is also recommended that you work with a tech-stack or build-system that is platform-agnostic. For example: if your project is written in C++ - which is platform-dependent, you may need to ensure that it compiles correctly accross multiple toolchains/compilers for different platforms, thereby creating the added-complexity of having to maintain multiple build-targets - such as having to support both MSVC for Windows (using WIN32 for OS-calls) and GCC for Linux (using POSIX for OS-calls). However, using a language like Java may work much better, since Java code is inherently platform-agnostic as it runs on a virtual machine which abstracts away the lower-level OS-calls.

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💡 Note for First-Time Hackathon Participants

If this is your first hackathon or you’re new to GitHub, don’t stress — just:

1. Use this template repo as-is.
2. Fill in the required documentation files (TEAM.md, OVERVIEW.md, SETUP.md, USAGE.md, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md, LICENSE).
3. Put your code in the src/ folder and assets in assets/.

That’s enough for a complete and valid submission 🚀 — the rest (like Docker, tests, extra docs) is optional polish.

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🧩 Example Submission

Check out a very basic example submission repository here.

We've also created a demo video showcasing the example submission and how to get started with this template repository, check it out here.

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🙌 Brought to you by

• UCT Developer Society
• UCT AI Society
• Stellenbosch AI Society
• Wits Developer Society
• UJ Developer Society
• UWC IT Society
• UNISA Developer Society

Good luck and happy hacking! 🚀