The GitLab Hackathon is a virtual event that takes place once a quarter, where community members get together to work on merge requests,
participate in tutorial sessions, and to help new contributors. The Hackathon is open to anyone who is interested in contributing code,
documentation, translations, UX design and more. Prizes are awarded to participants for having Merge Requests (MRs) merged
%h2.block-title Joining in
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The Hackathon is a virtual event open to anyone who is interested in contributing code,
documentation, translations, UX designs and more to GitLab. Prizes are awarded to participants for having Merge Requests (MRs) merged
and there may also be special award categories at each Hackathon.
To get started contributing to GitLab, please visit the [Contribute page](https://about.gitlab.com/contributing/).
If it's your first time contributing, a good way to join the Hackathon can be to [pick and fix a bite size issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&label_name%5B%5D=Accepting%20merge%20requests&weight=1&milestone_title=Backlog).
1. Check out the [Contribute page](https://about.gitlab.com/contributing/).
1. Pick an existing issue to work on, or file a new one. If it's your first time contributing, a good way to join the Hackathon is to [pick and fix a bite size issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&label_name%5B%5D=Accepting%20merge%20requests&weight=1&milestone_title=Backlog).
1. [Join the tutorial sessions](#sessions)
1. Share the MRs you are working on, get help or help others. [Join the party at the contributors channel](#getting-help).
We are excited to offer three categories of prizes for this Hackathon:
1. Everyone with an MR merged will receive a **Merged MR** prize
1. The individual with the most MRs merged will receive the **Grand Prize**. There will also be a **Second Place** prize for people with the second most merged MRs.
For communications during the Hackathon, we will use the GitLab Community room in Gitter. This is a channel for community-related discussions and for community members to help each other as people have questions when contributing to GitLab.
For communications during the Hackathon, we will use the GitLab Contributors room in Gitter. This is a channel for community-related discussions and for community members to help each other as people have questions when contributing to GitLab.
It's open to everyone, so please [join us at the Contributors Gitter room](https://gitter.im/gitlabhq/contributors)!
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%h2#contribute-for-prize.block-title
%a{href: '#contribute-for-prize'} Missed the last Hackathon?
:markdown
If you missed the recent Hackathon, you still have an opportunity to contribute for a prize. You can start by searching for priority issues with the label `Contribute for prize` as you can see in this [query](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&label_name[]=Contribute%20for%20prize). For the next few months, anyone who works on these issues and have an MR merged will receive the [GitLab moleskin note book (photo below)](https://shop.gitlab.com/collections/frontpage/products/gitlab-moleskin). If you're interested in working on these `Contribute for prize` items, you can mention `@rpaik` in the issue so that it can be assigned to you.
-#%a{ href: '#contribute-for-prize' } Missed the last Hackathon?
-#:markdown
-#If you missed the recent Hackathon, you still have an opportunity to contribute for a prize. You can start by searching for priority issues with the label `Contribute for prize` as you can see in this [query](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&label_name[]=Contribute%20for%20prize). For the next few months, anyone who works on these issues and have an MR merged will receive the [GitLab moleskin note book (photo below)](https://shop.gitlab.com/collections/frontpage/products/gitlab-moleskin). If you're interested in working on these `Contribute for prize` items, you can mention `@rpaik` in the issue so that it can be assigned to you.
