Doesn't anyone hack for fun anymore?
Regardless, no one's restricting you to anything... This is a hacking contest, not a real job, so the choice to just not participate costs you nothing. To me, however, the challenge of building a cool app on a new & innovative API on a very short timeline sounds kind of intriguing actually.
if you're not contracted out to test for vulnerabilities and exploits then there better be some other incentive involved since you're no longer living in your parents basement.