Official Contest Rules
These Official Rules (“Rules”) govern the operation of the Microsoft Hack Together: The Microsoft Fabric Global AI Hack Contest (“Contest”). Microsoft East Africa Limited, 7th Floor, Dunhill Towers, Waiyaki Way, is the Contest sponsor (“Sponsor” or “Microsoft”).
In these Rules, “Microsoft,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to Sponsor and “you” and “yourself” refers to a Contest participant, or the parent/legal guardian of any Contest entrant who has not reached the age of majority to contractually obligate themselves in their legal place of residence. “Team” and “Teams” refers to a group of up to three (3) Contest participants working together to produce a single entry. By entering you (your parent/legal guardian if you are not the age of majority in your legal place of residence) agree to be bound by these Rules.
The Contest starts at 12:00 a.m. East African Time (EAT) on March 12, 2025, and ends at 11:59 p.m. EAT on April 11, 2025 (“Entry Period”).
To be eligible to enter, participants must be eighteen (18) years or older and be legal residents of Kenya. Each team must consist of three (3) members, with the individual completing the entry form designated as the Team leader.
Employees and directors of Microsoft East Africa Limited and its affiliates, and advertising agencies are not eligible or the family members of each above (parents, children, siblings, spouse/domestic partners, or individuals residing in the same household).
To create an entry, you or your Team must:
Register at https://aka.ms/data-ai-hack-kenya/register. One (1) member on the team can do the registration on behalf of the team.
Start hacking on your project alongside your team.
Create a solution that utilizes Microsoft Fabric & Azure AI (“an Entry”).
Attend the weekly training as documented on the announcement at https://aka.ms/data-ai-hack-kenya.
Submit your Entry before the end of the entry period. Submission is done on by creating an issue on the Hackathon GitHub Repository. Check out this video for step by step project submission guidance: Project Submission Video.
The Entry limit is one (1) per Team and we are not responsible for excess, lost, late, or incomplete Entries. Any attempt by you to obtain more than the stated number of Entries by using multiple/different accounts, email addresses, identities, registrations, logins, or any other methods will void your entries and you may be disqualified. Use of any automated system to participate is prohibited. Team Leaders may only provide individual Team Member’s personal data to Microsoft in accordance with Section 12 (Privacy) below.
To be eligible, an Entry must meet the following content/technical requirements:
| To the extent that Entry requires the submission of user-generated content such as software, photos, videos, music, artwork, essays, etc., entrants warrant that their Entry is their original work, has not been copied from others without permission or apparent rights, and does not violate the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other rights of any other person or entity. You may include Microsoft trademarks, logos, and designs, strictly in accordance with the guidance located at Trademark and Brand Guidelines | Microsoft Legal, to use for the sole purposes of submitting an Entry into this Contest; and |
We are not claiming ownership rights to your Entry. However, by submitting an Entry, you grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your Entry and all its content in connection with this Contest and use your Entry in any media whatsoever now known or later invented for any non-commercial or commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, the marketing, sale or promotion of Microsoft products or services, without further permission from you. You will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your Entry, other than what is described in these Rules.
By entering you acknowledge that we may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your Entry and you waive any claims resulting from any similarities to your Entry. Further you understand that we will not restrict work assignments of representatives who have had access to your Entry, and you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under this agreement or copyright or trade secret law.
Your Entry may be posted on a public website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your Entry by visitors to this website. We are not obligated to use your Entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning Entry.
Pending confirmation of eligibility, potential prize winners will be selected by Microsoft or their Agent or a qualified judging panel from among all eligible Entries received based on the following judging criteria:
30% - Alignment with the Hackathon goal - Does the solution fit into the hackathon goal of designing, building and deploying a functional real world AI application using Microsoft Fabric?
25% - Technology (Fabric + AI) - Does the solution use multiple Fabric features & workloads, and leverage built in AI capabilities those from Azure AI?
25% - Innovation / Impact - Does the solution have real-world relevance? Does it solve a clearly defined problem that could be beneficial to others?
15% - Documentation / Reproducibility - Is the solution clearly documented in a GitHub repo that makes it easy for others to follow along and reproduce the solution? Is a video demonstration included in the submission?
5% - Video Demonstration - Does the project submission include a link to a video demonstration of the solution in action? Does the video clearly depict the solution’s use of Microsoft Fabric features and capabilities and demonstrate how the solution makes use of artificial intelligence?
Winners will be selected within five (5) weeks following the Entry Period from among all eligible entries received: the top three (3) Teams will be announced on April 11, 2025, and the winning Team will be announced on April 11, 2025.
In the event of a tie between any eligible Entries, an additional judge will break the tie based on the judging criteria described above. The decisions of the judges are final and binding. If we do not receive enough Entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of Contest prizes described below.
For the winning Team, the Prize will be awarded to the Team Leader, who will be responsible for distributing it among the rest of the Team Members. The Team Leader of the winning Team will be notified via the contact information provided on the registration form on April 11, 2025. If a selected Team Leader cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim a prize or fails to return any forms, the selected winner will forfeit their prize and an alternate winner will be selected time allowing.
The following prizes will be awarded:
Top Three (3) Winning Teams:
Swag Packages - 1 hoodie, 1 desk mat, 1 backpack, thermos flask.
First Place and Overall, Winner - 1500.00USD worth of Carrefour Vouchers.
Second Place and Runner Up – 900.00USD worth of Carrefour Vouchers.
Third Place – 600.00USD worth of Carrefour Vouchers.
We will only award one (1) prize package per Team during the Entry Period. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded. No substitution, transfer, or assignment of prize permitted, except that Microsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event the offered prize is unavailable. Except for applicable manufacturer’s limited warranties and any rights you may have under Kenyan Law, Microsoft products awarded as prizes are awarded “AS IS” and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied (including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose); you assume the entire risk of quality and performance, and should the prizes prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing or repair. This is so even if the Microsoft product mentions a warranty on its packaging, in a manual, or in marketing materials; no warranty applies to Microsoft products awarded as prizes. Microsoft does not give any warranty of any kind, express or implied (including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose) on products made by a company other than Microsoft that are awarded as prizes. Please contact the manufacturer to see if it is covered by that company’s warranty.
Prizes will be sent no later than twenty-eight (28) days after winner selection. Prize winners may be required to complete and return prize claim and/or tax forms (“Forms”) within the deadline stated in the winner notification. Taxes on the prize, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner, who is advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. By accepting a prize, you agree that Microsoft may use your entry, name, image and hometown online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this Contest without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.
The odds of winning are based on the number of eligible Entries received.
To the extent allowed by law, by entering you agree to release and hold harmless Microsoft and its respective parents, partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss, or damage of any kind arising in connection with this Contest or any prize won.
Kenyan Law applies. The decisions of Microsoft are final and binding.
We reserve the right to cancel, change, or suspend this Contest for any reason, including cheating, technology failure, catastrophe, war, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that affects the integrity of this Contest, whether human or mechanical. If the integrity of the Contest cannot be restored, we may select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Contest.
If you attempt or we have strong reason to believe that you have compromised the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Contest by cheating, hacking, or by committing fraud in any way, we may seek damages from you to the full extent of the law and you may be banned from participation in future Microsoft promotions.
Team Leaders will not provide any individual Team member’s personal data to Microsoft except as explicitly requested by Microsoft, and then only after notifying Team members that their personal data will be submitted to Microsoft in connection with the Contest.
Personal data you provide while entering this Contest will be used by Microsoft and/or its agents and prize fulfillers acting on Microsoft’s behalf only for the administration and operation of this Contest and in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
This Contest will be governed by the laws of Kenya, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of Kenya for any disputes arising out of this Contest.