> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dapp.ing/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Run a hackathon leaderboard

> Turn on a public leaderboard for your hackathon, share the participation code, and moderate entries.

Switch on a leaderboard in your hackathon's edit form. Teams enter with your code, the community responds during the event, and the standings become a permanent record once judging closes.

## What the leaderboard is, and what it is not

The leaderboard shows which projects the community responded to. It is a community signal, not judging: it has no tracks, no judge scores and no winner selection. If you award a prize on it, use it alongside your judges rather than as the only deciding vote, because people can organize support for any public vote.

## Turn it on

1. Open your hackathon's edit form (or create one) from the company hub that publishes it.
2. Switch on **Builder leaderboard** and set a participation code of 6 to 64 letters, numbers or hyphens.
3. Check the schedule. Teams can submit from the start of the hackathon until the **Submission Deadline**. Upvotes and reviews count until **Judging Ends**, or until the hackathon ends if you leave that field empty.
4. Save, then share the code with your participants only.

You can change the code until the leaderboard closes, for example if it leaks. Projects already entered stay on the board.

## During the hackathon

* The board ranks projects by the support and reviews they receive from people outside each team, from the start of the hackathon until judging ends. A team's own upvotes and reviews never count.
* Projects on the same score share a rank. A project with no counted activity yet is shown as Unranked.
* Owners and admins of a co-organizer company that has accepted your invitation can moderate the board and edit the hackathon with you.

## Remove an entry

Open the **Leaderboard** tab and select **Remove** on the entry. You can add a short reason. The project's team is notified that the organizer removed it, with your reason if you gave one. The notice names your hackathon, not you personally.

You can remove entries at any time, including after the standings are final. Removing an entry from a final board does not renumber the other published ranks.

## When it closes

When judging ends the board shows **Final** and its standings no longer change. Upvotes and reviews still count on each project's own page. The start and end dates, submission deadline, judging end and participation code are locked from then on, and the leaderboard can't be switched off, so the record stays accurate.

Live boards always use the current scoring rules. If Dapping updates them, final boards are recalculated under the new rules and say when that happened.

## Continue on Dapping

<Card title="Browse hackathons" href="https://dapp.ing/hackathons">
  See how hackathons and their leaderboards appear to builders.
</Card>

## Related guides

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Enter a project in a hackathon leaderboard" icon="book-open" href="/help/discovery/enter-a-project-in-a-hackathon-leaderboard">
    What participants do, and how their entry is shown.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Publish jobs, grants, bounties, hackathons, and accelerators" icon="book-open" href="/help/publishing/publish-jobs-grants-bounties-hackathons-and-accelerators">
    Publish the hackathon itself from your company hub.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>