DEV Community

Weekend Challenge: Dog Days Edition Weekend Challenge: Dog Days Edition

Weekend Challenge: Dog Days Edition

Please sign in to follow this challenge

A short-form challenge that fits into your weekend!

Challenge Status: Upcoming Ended

We're back with another DEV Weekend Challenge, a short bite-sized challenge planned to fit into your weekend. We know the submission window is tight, so we've set the timing to ensure that no matter where you are in the world, you'll have the majority of your Saturday and Sunday to participate.

International Dog Day is coming up on August 26, so this weekend we're handing the keyboard over to our best friends. 🐕

We'll select one overall winner and four prize category winners who utilize a specific technology as part of their challenge submission. Each winner takes home $200 USD, a DEV++ Membership, and an exclusive DEV badge.

Here's what our launch time looks like across a few timezones:

Timezone Launch Time (Local) Submissions Due (Local)
PDTThursday, Aug 13 at 7:00 PMSunday, Aug 16 at 11:59 PM
EDTThursday, Aug 13 at 10:00 PMMonday, Aug 17 at 2:59 AM
GMTFriday, Aug 14 at 2:00 AMMonday, Aug 17 at 6:59 AM
CESTFriday, Aug 14 at 4:00 AMMonday, Aug 17 at 8:59 AM
ISTFriday, Aug 14 at 7:30 AMMonday, Aug 17 at 12:29 PM
JSTFriday, Aug 14 at 11:00 AMMonday, Aug 17 at 3:59 PM
AESTFriday, Aug 14 at 12:00 PMMonday, Aug 17 at 4:59 PM

Key Dates

  • Contest start: August 14, 2026 2:00 AM UTC
  • Submissions due: August 17, 2026 6:59 AM UTC
  • Winners announced: September 10, 2026

Badge Rewards

DEV Weekend Challenge Completion Badge
DEV Weekend Challenge Completion Badge
DEV Weekend Challenge Winner Badge
DEV Weekend Challenge Winner Badge
Best Use of Snowflake Badge
Best Use of Snowflake Badge
Best Use of Solana Badge
Best Use of Solana Badge
Best Use of ElevenLabs Badge
Best Use of ElevenLabs Badge
Best Use of Google AI Badge
Best Use of Google AI Badge

Find Out More

Ask questions and share your ideas on the Weekend Challenge: Dog Days Edition Launch Post.

View Launch Post

Challenge Prompt

Build Something for, About, or Inspired by Dogs

International Dog Day is coming up on August 26, so this weekend we're handing the keyboard over to our best friends.

Build something for, about, or inspired by dogs.

Please interpret this prompt however you'd like. A training log for a new puppy? A breed identifier? A generative art piece built from the silhouette of your own dog? A game where you are the dog? Any angle is fair game, and we have no objection to submissions honoring cats, lizards, or ferrets who happen to live with a dog.

This challenge includes four prize categories for participants who incorporate a specific technology into their project. You don't need to use any of these tools to be eligible for our overall winner spot, but if you're curious about any of the tech, this is a great excuse to give one a try.

Pro Tip: since prize category winners are drawn from a smaller pool of submissions, your odds of taking home a prize are meaningfully higher.

Note: You may use multiple technologies in a single submission to qualify for multiple categories, but participants are limited to one win per challenge.

Submission Template

Judging Criteria:

  • Relevance to Theme
  • Creativity
  • Technical Execution
  • Writing Quality
  • Use of Prize Category Technology (optional)

How To Participate

Publish a post on DEV using the submission template and the required tag #weekendchallenge. Your post should give us an overview of what you built, why you built it, and a demo of your project.

Helpful Links & Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Participation

Can I submit more than once?

No, only one submission is allowed per person. This is to encourage quality over quantity. Note that you can only win one prize category per challenge. That said, you're welcome to incorporate multiple prize category technologies into a single submission to qualify for multiple categories simultaneously.

Can I work on a team?

Yes, you can work on teams of up to four people.

  • If you collaborate with anyone, you'll need to list their DEV handles in your submission post so we can award a badge to your entire team! Please only publish one submission per team.
  • DEV does not handle prize-splitting, so in the event that your submission wins, you will need to split the prize amongst yourselves. Thank you for understanding!

How old do I have to be to participate?

Participants need to be 18+ in order to participate.

If I live in X, am I eligible to participate?

For eligibility rules, see our official challenge rules.

Submission

Can I work on an old project?

No, all submissions and their respective repositories must be started and completed within the challenge window. Commits made after the submission deadline must be noted in the project's readme. Failure to do so may result in disqualification.

Can my submission include open source code?

Riffing on open source code and borrowing and improving on previous work/ideas is encouraged but it's important your changes are significant enough to ensure your submission is valid.

What happens if my submission is considered plagiarized or invalid?

Anything deemed to be plagiarism will not be eligible for prizes. Incidental plagiarism may simply result in your disqualification from the challenge (regardless of the number of other valid submissions you have published). Egregious plagiarism will result in your suspension from DEV entirely. Any non-generic, non-trivial usage of prior work, including open source code must be credited in your submission.

Do submissions have to be in English?

Non-english submissions are eligible for a completion badge but not eligible for prizes due to the current limitations of our judges. We will not be judging on mastery of the English language, so please don't let this deter you from submitting if you are not a native English speaker! We hope to evolve this in the future to be more accommodating.

Can I use AI?

Use of AI is allowed as long as all other rules are followed. We want to give you a chance to show off your skills in realistic scenarios. If you use AI tools to help you achieve your submission, all the power to you.

Judging and Prizing

Can there be ties?

In the event of a tie in scoring between judges, the judges will select the entry that received the highest number of positive reactions on their DEV post to determine the winner.

How will I know if I won?

Winners will be announced in a DEV post on the winner announcement date noted in our key dates section.

When will I receive my DEV badge?

Both participation and winner badges will be awarded, in most cases, the same day as the winner announcement.

When will I receive my prizes?

The DEV Team will contact you via the email associated with your DEV profile within, at most, 10 business days of the announcement date to share the details of claiming your prizes.

What steps do I need to take to receive my cash prize?

The winner (including each member of a team) may be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release, and provide any additional tax filing information (such as a W-9, social security number or Federal tax ID number) within seven (7) business days following the date of your first email notification.

Weekend Challenge: Dog Days Edition Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends August 17, 2026 at 6:59 AM UTC. Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulation. All entries must be submitted during the contest period. For Official Rules, see DEV Weekend Challenge Contest Rules and General Contest Official Rules.