# Announcing Hashnode Open Source October - The Symposium, Grants, and New Badges! 🚀

You don't need me to tell you that open source software is... *kind of a big deal* in the month of October.

![Woman saying actually, it's low key a huge deal](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633052012144/s3bRNWqvr.gif)

Hashnode welcomes hackers of all languages, libraries and frameworks to share your open source experiences with our community this month—and we've got plenty of good reasons why you should!

## The Hashnode Open Source Symposium 🎉

The crown jewel of our festivities this month is **the *LIVE* Hashnode Open Source Symposium**, a live online conference that takes place on *Thursday, October 14*.

![The Hashnode Open Source Symposium Speakers](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633438599437/XnYBdVC57.png)

This event features presentations from five amazing figures in the open source community who are just as excited as we are to help you make the most of OSS—whether you're a total newbie or a seasoned vet.

Here's the full lineup and schedule:

####  **Sam Sycamore - 2:00 pm UTC / 7:00 am PT**
*Introduction*
####  **Matteo Collina - 2:15 pm UTC / 7:15 am PT**
*There is no such thing as luck: making an impact as an OSS developer*
#### **Brian Douglas - 3:00 pm UTC / 8:00 am PT**
*How to get your pull request merged*
#### **Dr. Gleb Bahmutov - 3:45 pm UTC / 8:45 am PT**
*Not just a blog, but a knowledge warehouse: how to make your content searchable*
#### **Elizabeth K. Joseph - 4:30 pm UTC / 9:30 am PT**
*Developing open source software for various hardware architectures*
#### **Tom Burdak - 5:15 pm UTC / 10:15 am PT**
*How to contribute to open source as a newbie without annoying the maintainers*

When we go live on the 14th, you'll be able to stream the event on YouTube.

**Set the reminder 👇**

%[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VvLnUeYzwM]


We can't wait to see you there!

## The [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) Tag Leaderboard

The [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) tag is taking over the Hashnode homepage this month, because we want to showcase the best of what this community has to offer.

For the month of October, you'll see the [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) Leaderboard on our main feed, keeping you up-to-date with the most popular articles that our community members publish with the [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) tag.

![Hashnode Sidebar Widget](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633434605770/-2AgNQgye.png)

**How do we judge popularity? **

Emoji reactions and page views! 🚀 

To cast your vote(s), simply **add as many reactions as you want** to any articles you read in the [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) category.

Don't be shy now! 

We've got an unlimited supply of these bad boys—there's plenty to go around, see:

👍💰🦄🍺👍🍺🏆 🍺 🚀👍 👏🎉 🦄 🎉 👏🦄😍😍😍 

...and that's just what I dug out of my pockets yesterday!

(When you work here, they let you take home as many of these as you want. Jealous much? 💪 😎 ✌️ )

Writers, you may want to encourage your readers to show you some emoji love 😍 because...

### Win a sponsorship 💸  for your favorite open source software

For you ambitious authors out there, it's not just about the glory of gathering emojis and topping the charts—you could also *win big* on behalf of your favorite open source project!

![Goofy guy flying through the air](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633055716413/NdWhFHif2.gif)

The top 5 [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) writers with the greatest total number of reactions in October will win a **1,000 USD sponsorship**, to be paid out to the OSS project of their choice!

If your crew could use some extra cash to keep your project moving, now's the time to nominate a blogger or three to come through and show us what you got!

Want to contribute to the conversation, but short on ideas?

You already know we've got you covered. Read on! 👇  

## Exclusive [#OpenSource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) Writing Challenges

![Hashnode Open Source Badges](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633437579995/ZrVdcByUe.png)

This month only, we're handing out **exclusive blog badges** that you can unlock by completing the following open source writing challenges:

- **OSS First Timer**—write an article about your first PR
- **OSS Documentarian**—contribute to OSS documentation and blog about it
- **OSS Cheerleader**—blog about your favorite OS project
- **OSS Brain Buster**—write about an especially challenging issue you resolved
- **OSS Mentor**—write an article to help newer devs get involved in OSS
- **OSS Scholar**—write about the Open Source Symposium
- **OSS Superstar**—complete all of the October OSS writing challenges

Don't put this off—once November rolls around, **you won't be able to score these badges ever again!** 😱  It's now or never, my friends!

## The Party Lasts All Month Long 🎊 

To keep up with all the fun, follow the [#opensource](https://hashnode.com/n/opensource) tag on Hashnode. And don't just sit on the sidelines! We can't wait to see what you publish.

All month along, our **weekly Twitter Spaces**, are dedicated to the open source community. The first one will happen on Thursday at 8 am PT / 3 pm UTC / 8:30 pm IST. 

Join us on Thursday, Oct 7 for *How the GitHub Open Source Grant Changed My Life*—a conversation with the recipients of this highly competitive award.

![Hashnode Twitter Space](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633437266740/l6ntRqAmU.jpeg)

Set the reminder on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1BdxYwjwaLBGX/peek

And be sure to come back every Wednesday/Thursday in October for more! [Follow @hashnode on Twitter](https://twitter.com/hashnode) for the latest updates.

If that's not enough ways for you to get involved in open source this month, then you might just be a hopeless overachiever.

Now's your time to shine! 😁🙌

🍺 🚀👍 👏🎉 🦄 🎉 👏🦄😍—Sorry, spilled a few emoji reactions there. These things are so tough to clean up! (You could take them for a test drive on this post, if you're feeling sassy. 💁‍♂️ Just sayin'.)

**What projects are you planning to contribute to this month?**

**Let us know in the comments down below.**

See you in the source code!!

![Alice falling down a rabbit hole](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1633057468589/Fmm7h2ahD.gif)

---

If you love this initiative, help spread the word. 

%[https://twitter.com/hashnode/status/1445374141301866499]