Running a Smart India Hackathon internal round

Only the SPOC or a senior faculty member can register teams for the national round, and only students selected in the internal round can be registered [1]. The 2026 nomination deadline was 15 September 2026, so that date has passed. Treat this guide as preparation for the next cycle.

What the internal round is for

The college uses the internal round to decide which teams go forward. The SPOC coordinates the round, manages registrations and nominates the top teams based on the internal results [1]. The official 2026 guideline does not set a format or judging criteria for the internal round. Each college's SPOC decides both [1]. For a reference point, RJIT ran its 2025 internal round on 26 and 27 September 2025, open to all its students. It then nominated its top teams to the portal [2].

Timeline and roles

Work backwards from your nomination date. Once the SPOC account is approved, most of the remaining work is internal: problem statements, the round itself and the paperwork.

Registration rules to build into your form

Your internal registration form should collect everything the national portal will ask for. That way nothing has to be chased later. The rules that matter most are these:

• Each team has 6 members including the team leader, all from the same college. Inter-college teams are not allowed [1].
• Each team must include at least one female member [1].
• Team names must be unique and must not include the institute's name in any form [1].
• A college can nominate at most 50 teams: 45 shortlisted plus 5 waitlisted. A university can nominate up to 100 [1].
• Each problem statement can receive at most 500 idea submissions before it freezes. One team can submit to at most 2 problem statements [1].
• Each idea submission needs a title, a description, a presentation PDF, the chosen problem statement or student innovation category, and verified team details [1].

The team size and gender rules need a manual check. A registration form can collect member names, college IDs and emails. It cannot tell you that a team has a woman in it until someone looks. Build that check into your nomination step. Do not rely on the form alone.

If you run your round on Unifesto Sprint, which is a Pro feature, it supports hackathon teams, problem statements, rounds with weighted rubrics, judge panels, in-app submissions and a live leaderboard. You can also add custom registration questions with file uploads, which suits the presentation PDF that the idea submission rules require. The manual check of the SIH team rules still applies. For a general guide to running a hackathon, see how to organise a college hackathon and how to write good hackathon problem statements.

Judging: use the national criteria as your rubric

The official idea evaluation criteria are novelty, complexity, clarity, feasibility, practicability, sustainability, scale of impact, user experience and potential for future progression [1]. The guideline leaves internal judging to you. That makes these nine criteria the most defensible base for your rubric. Give each one a weight, publish the weights before the round, and score every team on the same sheet.

A third-party guide says the internal round is usually judged by the college's own faculty on a presentation rather than on working code. That guide is not an official source, so treat the point as an option, not a rule [4]. Decide the format yourself and tell teams in advance. For judge numbers, see how many judges you need for a hackathon.

Publish the schedule and the rubric before the round starts. RJIT's 2025 round ran over two days [2]. You can adapt that to your own team numbers.

The internal hackathon report

The SPOC must upload an internal hackathon report of at most 15 pages [1][3]. The required sections and their page limits are:

These section limits add up to 13 pages, which leaves 2 pages of slack under the 15-page cap. The report also needs the round's date, location and mode (online or offline). It needs the team count, the male and female participant counts, and an image or video link [1]. The social media section must use the hashtags #sih2026 and #smartindiahackathon2026 and tag the Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education [1]. Keep a running log of these numbers from the first registration. The female participant count is the easiest to lose if nobody records it as it comes in.

Unifesto's live attendance and per-event reporting can help you keep some of these counts in one place. The SPOC still writes and uploads the SIH report.

Our view

Our view: score the round on the nine national criteria in writing, before anyone presents, and keep those score sheets with the report. A shortlist you can show on paper is easier to defend. The SPOC has to nominate teams and enter their details, and those details cannot be changed afterwards [1].

What we could not confirm

The official guideline we used is hosted on a third-party site, not on sih.gov.in. Its contents match the official format, but check every number against sih.gov.in before you rely on it [1]. Some other figures are unclear too. One guide says the 2026 SPOC registration closed on 31 July 2026. The official guideline gives only a start date in July and no closing date [5][6]. A third-party guide also claims that over 60 percent of teams are eliminated in the internal round. It cites a split of 30 software and 15 hardware nominations. The official guidelines we read do not state that split, so we have not used it [5]. Finally, the 2024 guideline capped a college at 30 teams, so caps change from year to year [7]. Always check the current year's cap.

FAQ

Can students register for the national round themselves?

No. Only the college SPOC or a senior faculty member, such as a professor, HOD, dean or principal, can register teams on the national portal [1].

Do I have to use the national judging criteria?

No. The official guideline leaves internal judging to each college's SPOC [1]. The nine national criteria are still a sensible base, because they are the criteria the official guideline sets for idea evaluation [1].

How many teams can a college nominate?

Under the 2026 guideline, a college can nominate at most 50 teams, made up of 45 shortlisted and 5 waitlisted [1]. Earlier guidelines used lower caps, so check the current year before you plan.

Is the internal round judged on working code?

Not according to the official guideline, which leaves the format to the SPOC [1]. A third-party guide says it is usually a presentation, but that is not an official source [4].

Sources

1. SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2026 #InnovationseAtmaNirbharBharat GUIDELINES: https://sih-uit.vercel.app/assets/sih-2026-guidelines.pdf
2. RJIT, Internal Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025: https://rjit.ac.in/sih2025/
3. SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2025 #InnovationseAtmaNirbharBharat GUIDELINES: https://www.driems.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SIH2025-Guidelines-College-SPOC.pdf
4. Smart India Hackathon 2026: Complete Registration & Winning Guide: https://thita.ai/blog/interview/smart-india-hackathon-2026-preparation-guide
5. Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2026: College Internal Round Playbook: https://zaidsayyed.in/blog/sih-2026-internal-hackathon-guide
6. Smart India Hackathon 2026 Registration, Dates & Problem Statements at sih.gov.in - सरकारी योजना: https://sarkariyojana.com/sih-gov-smart-india-hackathon-registration/
7. Smart India Hackathon 2024: Guidelines & Registration Process: https://www.coursehero.com/file/238667670/Guidelines-College-SPOC-1pdf/