Pick a topic. Pitch it for approval. Then spend two weeks building a website about it using any tools you want — including AI. On competition day, you present live to the judges.
OpenCanvas is TechQuest's web development competition — and it's unlike any other event here. There's no fixed brief, no locked-in topic, and no rule against using AI tools. You choose what you build, you choose how you build it, and you stand behind every line of code on the day.
The catch? Judges will ask. They'll dig into your structure, your design choices, your CSS — and a page you don't understand won't score. The participants who win are the ones who actually learn what they're building, even if AI helped them start it.
↑ tap any topic to see what makes it a strong submission
Participants choose any topic they're genuinely interested in and submit it for approval by the event heads. Once approved, they have two weeks to build. There are no language or framework restrictions — vanilla HTML, CSS and JS, a full React app, or a Tailwind-powered site with AI-generated copy are all equally valid. The build must be self-contained and run offline on event day.
⚡ AI Tools are allowed and encouraged. Use any AI assistant to help write code, generate layouts, debug, or brainstorm. The important part: you need to understand what was built. Judges will ask.
Part A — Demo: Walk the judges through your site. Show them the pages, explain the layout, highlight what you're proud of. This is your moment to present the work on your own terms before they start asking.
Part B — Defence: Judges will ask specific questions — about a CSS rule, a JS function, a design decision, a colour choice. If you used AI to write it, that's fine. But you need to be able to explain what it does. Teams who understand their code at every level score highest.
✦ You don't need to write every line yourself. You need to own every line you submit.
Visual Design & UI
How does the site look? Judges assess colour, typography, spacing, and visual hierarchy. A site that looks intentional and polished — even if simple — scores higher than a complex site that looks like an accident. Clean, purposeful design is always rewarded.
Structure & Code Quality
Is the HTML semantic and well-structured? Is the CSS organised? Are there unnecessary bugs or broken elements? Judges will look at the source during the defence. Clean, readable code with a logical structure earns full marks here — messy AI-generated soup does not.
Content & Topic Relevance
Is the content on the site relevant, accurate, and interesting? A beautiful site about nothing scores lower than a useful, content-rich site about something specific. Judges reward participants who genuinely know their topic.
Interactivity / Feature
Does the site do something? A working navigation, a functioning search, a toggle, an animation, a quiz — any interactive element that works correctly earns marks here. It doesn't need to be complex, it needs to work.
Code Understanding
Can the participant explain what their code does? Judges will point at elements and ask. How does this animation work? What does this function do? Why did you structure the page this way? Genuine understanding — even of AI-generated code — is the highest-scoring outcome here.
Presentation & Confidence
How does the participant carry themselves on the day? Confident, clear presentation — not reading from a script, making genuine eye contact, speaking naturally about their site — scores well. Panic and memorised lines score lower.
Design Decision Reasoning
Why do these colours work together? Why this layout? Why did you pick this font? Judges want to see that design decisions were made intentionally — not just accepted from an AI output. "I liked how it looked" is fine. "I chose this because…" is better.
Q&A Response
How well does the participant handle unexpected questions? What they don't know is less important than how they respond to it. "I'm not sure, but I think it works like this…" is a strong answer. Silence or making things up is not.
Everything you need to know before you open your editor.
Choose your topic first. You pick any subject — sports, science, anime, history, music, coding itself, anything — and pitch it to the event heads for a quick approval. Approval is easy; it's just to make sure no two teams are building the same thing.
AI tools are a feature, not a cheat. Using ChatGPT to write your layout, Claude to debug your CSS, or Copilot to autocomplete your JS is all fair game. Real-world developers use these tools every day. The event reflects that. What's judged is understanding — so learn what you ship.
Your site must run offline. Bring your files on a USB or copied to the school computer before the event. Sites that require a live internet connection to load content may be penalised if the network is unavailable. Embed what you need.
⚡ On the day, you'll be asked about your code, your design choices, and your topic. The ones who win are not the best coders — they're the ones who can explain what they built and why.