About the challenge

Welcome to BearHacks 2026, Sheridan College's annual hackathon! Accepted hackers may join us on April 24th-26th at Sheridan's Hazel McCallion campus to collaborate, innovate, and build the future of tech.

Over 36 hours, you'll connect with fellow students, industry mentors, and sponsors to create cutting-edge projects. Whether you're a seasoned hacker or a curious beginner, BearHacks offers an inclusive environment to learn, grow, and showcase your skills.

Get started

Once you've been accepted, create a team of up to 4 people—you can post on the #find-a-team channel on our Discord server to find likeminded teammates.

Hackers are forbidden to work on pre-existing projects or to begin their projects before the hacking period starts—and no code written before the hacking period can be used. Teams will need to use a public GitHub repository for their project.

Participants that cheat by breaking these rules will be disqualified.

• Preliminary Theme Check
  Pass or Fail — Does the project align with the theme?
• Execution
  30% — Is the project complete? Is it built with a positive user experience in mind? How technically / visually impressive is it?
• Impact
  20% — Does it solve a problem? Does it have real-world value?
• Creativity & Originality
  30% — Is it new and exciting? Does it push the boundaries for a hackathon project?
• Presentation
  20% — Was the project explained clearly? Was the project demo interesting, persuasive, and high-quality?