Terms of Participation

Version 2026-07-27 · Last updated 2026-07-27 · Agenthon 2026

1. The Organizer and the Event

The Agenthon 2026 hackathon (“Event”) is organized by the Society of Quantitative Analysts (SQA) and the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) at Stony Brook, both US nonprofit organizations (“Organizer,” “we”). The Event runs from August 3rd, 2026 to October 31st, 2026. By registering, you agree to these Terms and acknowledge our Privacy Notice.

2. Eligibility

• You must be at least 16 years old at the time of registration.
• Employees, contractors, and immediate family of the Organizing Committee are not eligible to win prizes.
• The Event is void where prohibited by law, and you are responsible for ensuring that your participation is lawful in your jurisdiction. Without limiting that responsibility, you may not participate if you are:
  • a resident of, or located in, any country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. (OFAC) sanctions or embargoes — currently including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine — or are otherwise a person restricted under applicable sanctions (which include the broad restrictions affecting Russia and Belarus);
  • a resident of a jurisdiction whose laws prohibit or restrict skill contests or classify them as unlawful lotteries (for example, Quebec (Canada), Brazil, and Italy); or
  • located where our compute provider cannot lawfully or practically provide the competition environment (for example, China, Venezuela, and Afghanistan).
  These examples are illustrative and not exhaustive; sanctions and platform availability change over time, and the controlling references are applicable law and the then-current OFAC lists. By registering, you represent that none of the above applies to you.
• Participation may be individual or in teams of up to 3 members. Each person may join only one team and submit under only one account.

3. Registration and Accounts

• Registration occurs on agenthon.net. Competition activity takes place on an external platform, which may require its own account and is governed additionally by that platform’s own terms of service.
• You must provide accurate information and keep your account secure. Accounts are personal and non-transferable.
• We may refuse or revoke registration at our reasonable discretion (e.g., suspected fraud, ineligibility, code of conduct violations).

4. Competition Rules

• Submissions must be created during the Event period.
• Permitted tools and resources are described on agenthon.net by question.
• Prohibited: plagiarism, use of others’ work without license, accessing non-public data, attacking the platform or other participants’ systems, multiple accounts, private sharing of solutions between teams, and any attempt to manipulate scoring.
• Submission format and deadline: a docker agent by October 12th, unless specified differently per question on agenthon.net. Late submissions are not accepted. The platform’s clock is authoritative.
• We may update the rules for clarity or fairness during the Event; material changes will be announced via email and on the Announcements tab on agenthon.net for logged-in participants and apply prospectively.

5. Code of Conduct

All participants must follow the Code of Conduct: no harassment, discrimination, or abusive behavior in any Event channel (platform, chat, forums, in person). Violations may result in warning, disqualification, or removal, and without scoreboard or prize eligibility. Reports: admin@alphathon.org, admin@sqa-us.org and info@cewit.org.

6. Intellectual Property

• You keep ownership. Participants retain all right, title, and interest in their submissions.
• License to us. You grant the Organizer a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, and display your submission (including team name and a project description) for judging, operating the Event, and publicizing the Event and future events.
• Open-source. Submissions must be made under an OSI-approved license.
• You represent that your submission is your team’s own work, does not infringe third-party rights, and that you have rights to all components you include.

7. Judging

• Submissions are judged by agents; ranking is determined by the platform’s evaluation metric as described on agenthon.net.
• Judges’ decisions are final and binding. No correspondence will be entered into regarding scores.
• We may verify winning submissions (code review, reproduction of results) before confirming scoreboard rankings and prizes. Failure to cooperate with verification forfeits the scoreboard ranking and prize.

8. Disqualification

We may disqualify any participant or team that violates these Terms, the rules, or the Code of Conduct; provides false information; or engages in conduct we reasonably determine undermines the fairness or integrity of the Event. Disqualified participants forfeit scoreboard ranking and prize eligibility.

9. Prizes

• Prizes: may be announced and will depend on sponsors. Details will be posted on the Announcements tab on agenthon.net for logged-in participants and via email to registered participants.
• Winners will be posted on the scoreboard on agenthon.net and notified via email within 5 days, and must respond within 5 days. For any Prizes, winners must complete required documentation (identity verification; for US winners, IRS Form W-9; for non-US winners, Form W-8BEN) or the prize is forfeited and may go to a runner-up.
• Taxes are the winner’s responsibility. US-source prize income to non-US winners may be subject to withholding as required by law. Prizes over $600 to US persons will be reported on Form 1099.
• Prizes are non-transferable and not exchangeable for cash unless already cash. Team prizes are split equally between team members.
• We reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value if a stated prize becomes unavailable.

10. Platform and Availability

The competition platform is provided by an external third-party provider. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability. In the event of significant outages, we may extend deadlines or adjust rules to preserve fairness, at our reasonable discretion.

11. Cancellation and Changes

We may modify, suspend, or cancel the Event if circumstances beyond our reasonable control (including platform failure, security compromise, legal requirement, or insufficient participation) make it impracticable. If canceled, we may at our discretion award prizes based on standings at cancellation or withdraw them.

12. Disclaimers

The Event, website, and platform are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, to the maximum extent permitted by law.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Organizer, its directors, officers, volunteers, sponsors, and partners are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from participation, and total aggregate liability shall not exceed the amount paid, if any. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law. If you are a consumer in the EU/UK, you retain all mandatory statutory rights.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify the Organizer against third-party claims arising from your submission infringing third-party rights or from your violation of these Terms.

15. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of New York, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Event shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, before a single arbitrator, seated in New York, New York, conducted in English. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. If the arbitration provision is found unenforceable or inapplicable to you or to a particular dispute, or if you are a consumer whose local law guarantees access to your home courts, such dispute shall instead be resolved exclusively in the state and federal courts located in New York County, New York, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction there — provided that nothing in these Terms deprives you of any mandatory rights or protections under the laws of your country of residence.

16. Miscellaneous

• These Terms plus the Privacy Notice and posted rules are the entire agreement regarding the Event.
• If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder stays in effect.
• Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.
• We may update these Terms before registration closes; material changes will be announced and continued participation constitutes acceptance.