SIH internal hackathon
Getting through the SIH internal round.
Before Smart India Hackathon’s national stage, your college runs an internal hackathon and nominates its teams. The college panel judges that round mostly on your six-slide idea deck. Below is how the round works and what to put on each slide. devreport is not affiliated with SIH.
How the internal round works
The details change each year, so check this year’s SIH guidelines and ask your college’s SPOC. In outline:
- Your team picks a problem statement from the list on the SIH portal. Check the team rules there too: SIH has asked for teams of six with at least one woman.
- You write the idea deck in the SIH template: six slides, uploaded as a PDF.
- A panel at your college reads the decks, and usually hears a short pitch from each team.
- The college nominates the teams it picks on the portal, and those decks go on to the national evaluation.
Choosing the problem statement
Read the full statement, including the background and the expected solution, before you decide. Pick one your team can build a first version of, in a field at least one of you knows. If several teams in your college pick the same statement, the panel is likely to compare those decks side by side, so a deck on a statement fewer teams chose has less competition inside the college.
The six slides, and what to put on each
The headings come from the official 2026 idea template (what each heading asks for). What helps on each one:
| Slide | What helps |
|---|---|
| 1. Title page | The problem statement ID and title, theme, category, team ID and team name exactly as on the portal. Check them twice. |
| 2. Proposed solution | Open with one sentence the panel could repeat. Then say how it addresses the statement and what is new compared with what exists. |
| 3. Technical approach | A flowchart from input to output, the real languages and frameworks, and a screenshot or mockup if you have one. |
| 4. Feasibility and viability | The risks you actually expect, each with what you would do about it, and what you can build during the hackathon itself. |
| 5. Impact and benefits | The user the problem statement names, and what changes for them. Use numbers only when you can source them. |
| 6. Research and references | Links to the reports, papers and data behind your claims. |
The pitch to your faculty panel
- Decide who presents which slide, and keep to the time you are given.
- Prepare for “how is this different from the app that already does this?” Name that app on your solution slide before they do.
- Prepare for “can you build this in the hackathon?” Have one sentence on what the first version includes and what waits.
- Bring the deck on a laptop and as a PDF on a pen drive.
Why decks get dropped at the college stage
- The solution is a past SIH winner’s idea with small changes.
- The deck drifts away from what the problem statement asked for.
- The technical approach says “AI and ML” and nothing more specific.
- The team doesn’t meet the composition rules.
- The deck is uploaded after the college’s deadline.
Draft it from your repo or notes
Paste your repo if you have one, then add the problem statement and your idea notes on the next page. Pick the SIH 2026 theme for the official layout. You get a PDF, and a PowerPoint file if you want one (2 more credits). 15 free credits on sign‑up (enough for your first deck). No card.
Questions
Who runs the SIH internal hackathon?
Your college does, through its SIH coordinator (the SPOC). The college judges its own teams and nominates the ones it picks on the SIH portal. The date, the format and how many teams go forward are the college’s call, so ask the SPOC early.
Do we need a working prototype for the internal round?
Most internal rounds judge the idea deck and a short pitch, so a prototype isn’t required. A screenshot or a short demo still helps, because it shows the panel you can build what the deck describes.
Can we change the problem statement after the internal round?
Plan as if you can’t. The college nominates you against a specific problem statement on the portal, so choose it before you write the deck.
Is devreport’s SIH deck the official template?
Its SIH 2026 theme is a rebuild of the official 2026 idea template’s layout as a PDF. devreport is not affiliated with Smart India Hackathon. If your college wants the template file itself, copy the text and diagrams into it.
How long does it take?
Usually three to five minutes, a little longer for a big repo, plus the time you take to answer its questions.
What does it cost?
New accounts get 15 free credits. A deck costs 10 credits and each change you ask for afterwards costs 1; editing text on the page yourself and switching themes are free. A build that fails gives its credits back.
Related
Internal round soon? Draft the six slides.
The problem statement and your idea in; the SIH idea deck out as a PDF. Not affiliated with SIH.
Paste my repo