Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Hakanow — the websites, apps, and services operated under the Hakanow brand (the "Platform") — whether you use it as a hacker (a participant who joins hackathons, forms teams, and submits projects), an organizer (an individual or organization that creates and runs hackathons through the organizer portal), or a judge (invited to score submissions for a specific hackathon).

By creating an account, accepting a judge invitation, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you are agreeing on behalf of an organization, you confirm you have authority to bind that organization, and "you" refers to both you and the organization.

Hakanow is a coordination layer for hackathons. It helps organizers publish events, manage registrations and teams, collect submissions, run judging, and track prizes through to payout.

Hakanow is not a payment processor. The Platform does not hold, move, or disburse prize money. Where a hackathon lists cash or in-kind prizes, the organizer is solely responsible for paying winners directly, outside the Platform. Hakanow tracks the status of a prize (configured, winner assigned, details submitted, settled, confirmed, or disputed) so both sides have visibility, but Hakanow does not guarantee that an organizer will pay a prize, and is not a party to that payment.

You must provide accurate registration information and keep your credentials confidential. You are responsible for all activity under your account. Judges invited by email may sign in via a passwordless magic link tied to that email address; keeping that inbox secure is your responsibility.

You must be old enough to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction, or have a parent or guardian's consent, to use the Platform. Organizers represent that they are authorized to act for any organization they register.

When you register for a hackathon, join or create a team, and submit a project, you agree to follow that hackathon's own rules, deadlines, and eligibility requirements as set by its organizer, in addition to these Terms.

• You retain ownership of the intellectual property in the projects you submit. By submitting, you grant Hakanow and the relevant organizer a non-exclusive license to host, display, and showcase your submission in connection with that hackathon and its results (for example, on a public results or showcase page).
• You must not submit content that infringes someone else's rights, is unlawful, or misrepresents work you did not do.
• Once an organizer moves a hackathon past its submissions stage, entries are locked; the Platform does not accept late edits on your behalf.
• If you win a prize, you are responsible for providing accurate payment or delivery details to the organizer, and for confirming or disputing settlement in good faith.

Organizers are responsible for the hackathons they create and everything that follows from running them, including:

• Accurately describing the event, its eligibility rules, its judging criteria, and any prizes offered — criteria weights must sum to 100% and Hakanow will reject configurations that don't.
• Actually paying out any prize you list once a winner is assigned, using your own payment channels. Listing a prize on the Platform is a representation that you intend and are able to pay it.
• Inviting and managing judges, and ensuring judging is conducted fairly, including requiring judges to recuse themselves from submissions where they have a conflict of interest.
• Complying with applicable law in how you collect, use, and communicate with participants, volunteers, mentors, and sponsors through the Platform.
• Any content you upload (branding, agenda, sponsor materials, communications) — you confirm you have the rights to use and publish it.

Organizer accounts and the organizer portal are operated at organizer.hakanow.com and are subject to these same Terms.

You agree not to:

• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose or to violate another person's rights.
• Attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you're not authorized to access, or interfere with the Platform's normal operation.
• Submit false judging scores, manipulate registrations, or otherwise game a hackathon's outcome.
• Scrape or bulk-extract data from the Platform except through documented, authorized means.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available." We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, and we make no warranty about the outcome, quality, or conduct of any hackathon, its organizer, or its participants.

Hakanow is not responsible for disputes between hackers and organizers, including disputes over prize payment, judging decisions, or event conduct, though we may provide the dispute-tracking tools built into the Platform (such as prize confirmation and dispute status) to help both sides see where things stand.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Hakanow and its team are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Platform, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount (if any) you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose.

You may stop using the Platform and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms, misuse the Platform, or where required by law. Termination does not affect obligations that already arose — for example, an organizer's obligation to pay out a prize already assigned to a winner.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll make reasonable efforts to notify users through the Platform. Continuing to use Hakanow after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of Ghana, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, unless a mandatory local law in your country of residence provides otherwise.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to legal@hakanow.com.