How to Set Up a Hackathon Leaderboard (Complete Guide)

A great hackathon needs a great scoreboard

You've organized the venue, lined up sponsors, and attracted 20 teams. Don't let the scoring be an afterthought. A live, visible leaderboard transforms a hackathon from "people coding in a room" to a thrilling competition.

Step 1: Define your scoring criteria

Most hackathons score on:

• Innovation (25%) - How original is the idea?
• Technical execution (25%) - Does it work? Is the code clean?
• Design/UX (20%) - Is it usable and well-designed?
• Impact/usefulness (20%) - Does it solve a real problem?
• Presentation (10%) - How well did they demo it?

You can either track a combined score on the leaderboard, or each sub-score. Combined is simpler and creates more suspense.

Step 2: Create your leaderboard

1. Go to BoardQ and create a new leaderboard
2. Add all team names
3. Choose the dark theme - it looks best on venue screens and projectors
4. Set up a custom unit if you want (e.g., "pts" or "/100")

Step 3: Set up displays

• Main stage screen - Full-screen the leaderboard on the projector
• QR code at entrance - Print the QR code on A3 paper so attendees can follow on phones
• Embed in event website - Use the BoardQ iframe embed to show live scores on your event page
• Stream overlay - If live-streaming, embed the leaderboard in OBS

Step 4: Update during judging

As judges score each team, update the leaderboard from your phone. The venue screens and all viewers' phones update in real-time. This creates incredible tension during the final judging rounds.

Pro tip: Use the BoardQ API to let judges submit scores via a simple form that automatically updates the leaderboard.

Step 5: The reveal

Don't show the final scores until all teams are judged. Update the last scores live on stage - the audience watching the leaderboard shuffle in real-time is the highlight of any hackathon.

Get started

Set up your hackathon leaderboard for free. Display it on any screen, update from any device. Create one now →