Agent skill

Prize Strategy

by MAGA2010 in MAGA2010/hackathon-run

Picks which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging criteria.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Prize Strategy

skills CLI
$ npx skills add MAGA2010/hackathon-run --skill prize-strategy -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install MAGA2010/hackathon-run prize-strategy --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/MAGA2010/hackathon-run.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prize-strategy .claude/skills/prize-strategy && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
prize-strategy
GitHub stars
411
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
440 words
Files
2 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
15
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Picks which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging criteria.

  • Works in 4 steps: Score every prize → Rank and emit target → Emit positioning notes → …
  • SKILL.md covers Input contract, Execution, Output contract and Acceptance criteria, plus 3 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder

What it does

Prize Strategy is an agent skill from MAGA2010/hackathon-run. Picks which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging criteria. Use at the start of the build phase once the demogoal is stable and at least 4 hours remain.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including scripts (for example `scripts/target.py`).

The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “Use the prize-strategy skill to pick which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging…”
  • “/prize-strategy”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Score every prize
  2. Rank and emit target
  3. Emit positioning notes
  4. Emit anti-targets

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit de3bcfb. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Prize Strategy loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 59 tokens; SKILL.md has 440 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~59
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from MAGA2010/hackathon-run at commit de3bcfb, republished under its MIT licence (© MAGA2010). 440 words, ~1,135 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/prize-strategy/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
prize-strategy
description
Picks which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging criteria. Use at the start of the build phase once the demo_goal is stable and at least 4 hours remain.
when_to_use
Trigger when the user says what prize should we target, which track should we go for, judges care about X, or right after scope-knife produces a KEEP list. Do…
version
1
category
scoping
tags
prize, strategy, positioning, judges
dependencies
scope-knife
side_effects
prize
triggers
what prize should we target, which track should we go for, how do we position for X prize, what do judges want, which prize category
capabilities
fs_read, fs_write

prize-strategy

Most hackathon submissions that lose do not lose because of code; they lose because the team did not consciously pick a prize and did not frame their demo for the judges that award it. This skill forces that decision.

Input contract

Required:

  • prizes: list of {name, criteria: list[str], weight: int} from the hackathon page (e.g. overall, ai-use, sustainability, newcomer).
  • project: {demo_goal: str, features: list[str], stack: list[str]} from .hackathon/state/plan.json.
  • team_skills: list of strings (e.g. python, react, llm).

Optional:

  • time_remaining_minutes: integer >= 0 (default 240).
  • target_demo_minutes: integer (default 3).
  • previous_prizes: list of prize names the team has won before (default empty).

Execution

1. Score every prize

For each prize, compute:

fit_score = 0.45 * criteria_overlap + 0.30 * demo_goal_match + 0.15 * stack_match + 0.10 * team_fit

Where:

  • criteria_overlap = fraction of prize.criteria words that appear in demo_goal or features (case-insensitive).
  • demo_goal_match = fraction of demo_goal words that appear in prize.criteria.
  • stack_match = 1 if any stack element matches any criteria word, 0 otherwise.
  • team_fit = bonus if team_skills contains common winning tools for the prize (LLMs/transformers for ai-use, etc.).
2. Rank and emit target

The highest fit_score wins. Emit a one-line rationale citing the top 3 scoring features and the time needed to reposition.

3. Emit positioning notes

For the target prize, list 3-5 things to do in the next 30 minutes that maximize the judges perception:

  • What to say in the first 10 seconds (opening hook).
  • Which feature to demo first.
  • Which technical detail to mention for this prizes judges.
  • Which line of the README to highlight.
Show full SKILL.md (185 more words)Show less
4. Emit anti-targets

For the bottom 1-2 prizes, name them and explain why they are a bad fit (so the team is not tempted by their prize pool).

Output contract

Files written:

  • .hackathon/state/prize.json (NEW schema, see src/state/schemas/prize.schema.json)
  • .hackathon/artifacts/prize-strategy.md (human-readable positioning doc)

Acceptance criteria

  • Exactly one target_prize is named.
  • target_prize.fit_score is the highest among all prizes.
  • Positioning notes include at least 3 concrete actions.
  • Anti-targets are named with one reason each.
  • Score per prize is reproducible (deterministic, no RNG).

Failure modes

ModeBehavior
prizes emptyRefuse; ask the user for the hackathon page URL or copy the prize list.
demo_goal emptyRefuse; run idea-clarify or scope-knife first.
All prizes tie at fit_score 0Default to the prize with the largest weight.

Trigger phrases (for agent intent matching)

  • "what prize should we target"
  • "which track should we go for"
  • "how do we position for X prize"
  • "what do judges want"
  • "which prize category"

Helper

The skill ships scripts/target.py (Python stdlib only) which implements the fit_score algorithm above end-to-end and writes both prize.json and prize-strategy.md. Run it with:

python3 skills/prize-strategy/scripts/target.py --prizes prizes.json --project plan.json --team-skills python,react --out-dir .hackathon

where prizes.json is the list of {name, criteria, weight} entries.

© MAGA2010, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (scripts) in skills/prize-strategy of MAGA2010/hackathon-run.

  • SKILL.md
  • scripts/target.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit de3bcfb

Compare with similar skills

Prize Strategy next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Prize Strategy compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Prize Strategy this skillMAGA2010/hackathon-run411—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
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Categories Functorsparcadei/Continuous-Claude-v33.9k1 repos~468Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Chatbox Pro Cherry-Pick Syncchatboxai/chatbox42k—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Etsy Category Listingbrowser-act/skills6.1k—~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Category Positioningappeeky/aso-skills2.2k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Prize Strategy

What does Prize Strategy do?

Picks which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging criteria. Prize Strategy is an agent skill from MAGA2010/hackathon-run. Picks which prize category a hackathon project should chase and how to position the demo around that prizes judging criteria.

How do I install Prize Strategy in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add MAGA2010/hackathon-run --skill prize-strategy -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/prize-strategy in MAGA2010/hackathon-run) into .claude/skills/prize-strategy in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Prize Strategy in Codex?

Run `npx skills add MAGA2010/hackathon-run --skill prize-strategy -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/prize-strategy in MAGA2010/hackathon-run) into .agents/skills/prize-strategy in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Prize Strategy in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add MAGA2010/hackathon-run --skill prize-strategy -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/prize-strategy, .gemini/skills/prize-strategy, .github/skills/prize-strategy and .opencode/skills/prize-strategy in your project.

What does Prize Strategy need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Prize Strategy needs Python for the scripts in its folder. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Prize Strategy access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Prize Strategy safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Prize Strategy use?

Prize Strategy is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Prize Strategy use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Prize Strategy?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Prize Strategy: Flutter Cherry Pick (flutter/flutter, 179k stars), Categories Functors (parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3, 3.9k stars), Chatbox Pro Cherry-Pick Sync (chatboxai/chatbox, 42k stars) and Etsy Category Listing (browser-act/skills, 6.1k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Prize Strategy?

MAGA2010 (a GitHub user) maintains it in MAGA2010/hackathon-run, which has 411 GitHub stars. The repository holds 15 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: MAGA2010/hackathon-run on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.