diff --git a/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/CurrentStateCard.svelte b/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/CurrentStateCard.svelte
index 6b818ac1..2d1c42cb 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/CurrentStateCard.svelte
+++ b/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/CurrentStateCard.svelte
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <script lang="ts">
     import { ArrowRight, Check } from 'lucide-svelte';
+    import { resolve } from '$app/paths';
     import { capabilityHref } from '$lib/navigation/capabilityLinks';
     import { PHASE_CAPABILITIES, capabilityDescription, formatPhaseRange } from '$lib/utils/phase';
     import { nextBoundary } from '$lib/utils/relativeTime';
@@ -50,8 +51,6 @@
     } = $props();
 
     const open = $derived(PHASE_CAPABILITIES.filter((c) => enabled.includes(c.value)));
-    const closed = $derived(PHASE_CAPABILITIES.filter((c) => !enabled.includes(c.value)));
-    const closedLine = $derived(closed.map((c) => c.label).join(' · '));
 
     // Links only where following one leads somewhere the viewer is let in.
     //
@@ -72,7 +71,6 @@
     const phaseBadge = $derived(declared ? 'Current phase' : 'In progress');
 
     const openHeading = $derived(organiserVoice ? 'Participants can now' : 'You can now');
-    const closedHeading = $derived(organiserVoice ? 'Not open to participants' : 'Not open yet');
 
     // Which boundary to count down to, decided here so the card knows whether
     // there is one at all. `new Date()` is only ever compared against, never
@@ -98,9 +96,14 @@
 
   The open capabilities are rows rather than pills because they are this page's
   real navigation: each is the way in to the thing a participant came to do. As
-  pills they were 20px targets carrying the same visual weight as the closed list
-  beside them. The closed ones are now one quiet line — worth knowing, not worth
-  a third of the card.
+  pills they were 20px targets carrying the same visual weight as the list of
+  closed ones beside them.
+
+  What is *closed* is not listed at all any more. Five of the six capabilities are
+  shut for most of a hackathon, so the line was always present and never told
+  anyone anything they could act on — and the question behind it is never "is
+  voting closed" but "when does it open", which this card cannot answer and the
+  timeline can. The "Next" line at the foot now leads there.
 
   `border-line-strong` rather than the plain `card` its siblings use: this one
   leads the page and is different in kind from the cards below it. Same
@@ -215,23 +218,27 @@
                     : 'Nothing is open right now.'}
             </p>
         {/if}
-
-        {#if closed.length > 0}
-            <!-- One line, not a pill each. Closed is the normal state of most of
-                 these for most of the hackathon, so this wants to be readable at
-                 a glance and then ignored. -->
-            <p class="m-0 flex flex-wrap items-baseline gap-x-2 gap-y-1 text-xs text-ink-3">
-                <span class="meta">{closedHeading}</span>
-                {closedLine}
-            </p>
-        {/if}
     {/if}
 
     {#if nextPhase}
-        <span class="tnum border-t border-line pt-3 text-xs text-ink-3">
-            Next: <span class="font-semibold text-ink-2">{nextPhase.name}</span>
-            · {formatPhaseRange(nextPhase.startsAt, nextPhase.endsAt)}
-        </span>
+        <!-- A link rather than a statement: this is the one forward-looking line on
+             the card, and the timeline is where the rest of the answer is — the
+             whole sequence, and how long until this phase hands over. Everyone who
+             can read this card can read that page. -->
+        <a
+            href={resolve(`/my/hackathon/${hackathonId}/timeline`)}
+            class="group flex flex-wrap items-baseline gap-x-2 border-t border-line pt-3
+                   text-xs text-ink-3 no-underline"
+        >
+            <span class="tnum group-hover:underline">
+                Next: <span class="font-semibold text-ink-2">{nextPhase.name}</span>
+                · {formatPhaseRange(nextPhase.startsAt, nextPhase.endsAt)}
+            </span>
+            <ArrowRight
+                class="h-3 w-3 shrink-0 self-center text-ink-3 group-hover:text-accent-ink"
+                aria-hidden="true"
+            />
+        </a>
     {/if}
 
     {#if noCurrentPhase || phaseEnded}
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/HeroCompact.svelte b/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/HeroCompact.svelte
index 1450a2e7..080cc257 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/HeroCompact.svelte
+++ b/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/HeroCompact.svelte
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
 <script lang="ts">
+    /**
+     * Above this, the description clamps to two lines and offers to expand.
+     *
+     * A character count rather than a measurement: knowing whether text actually
+     * overflows means reading `scrollHeight` after layout, which costs an effect
+     * and a second render to save nothing. At two lines of `text-xs` in this
+     * column the threshold is wrong only for descriptions sitting right on the
+     * boundary, where both answers look the same.
+     */
+    const CLAMP_CHARS = 180;
+
     let {
         title,
         dates,
@@ -8,6 +19,7 @@
         participantCapacity,
         organizers,
         badges = [],
+        description = '',
     }: {
         title: string;
         dates: string;
@@ -22,12 +34,25 @@
         participantCapacity?: number;
         organizers: { name: string; logoUrl: string; logoDarkUrl?: string }[];
         badges?: { label: string; variant: string }[];
+        /**
+         * The hackathon's own description, or empty.
+         *
+         * It used to be an About card at the foot of the overview, which is the
+         * page for what has changed since the last visit — and a description
+         * changes never. It is identity, so it belongs with the rest of the
+         * identity, where a first visit lands and a returning one skims past.
+         * The dashboard card a member clicks to get here already shows it too.
+         */
+        description?: string;
     } = $props();
+
+    let expanded = $state(false);
+    const clampable = $derived(description.length > CLAMP_CHARS);
 </script>
 
 <section
     class="flex flex-col gap-4 bg-raised px-4 py-4 sm:px-10 sm:py-6 md:flex-row md:items-center
-           md:gap-8 md:px-20 md:py-0 min-h-0 md:h-44"
+           md:gap-8 md:px-20 md:py-4 min-h-0 md:min-h-44"
 >
     {#if imageUrl}
         <div
@@ -48,6 +73,26 @@
                 {/each}
             </div>
         {/if}
+        <!-- Clamped, because the hero is identity at a glance and a long
+             description would push the count off a phone. The toggle expands it
+             in place — there is nowhere else in the member subtree that carries
+             the full text. -->
+        {#if description}
+            <div class="flex flex-col items-start gap-0.5">
+                <p class="prose m-0 text-xs text-ink-2 {expanded ? '' : 'line-clamp-2'}">
+                    {description}
+                </p>
+                {#if clampable}
+                    <button
+                        type="button"
+                        class="text-xs font-semibold text-accent-ink hover:underline"
+                        onclick={() => (expanded = !expanded)}
+                    >
+                        {expanded ? 'Less' : 'More'}
+                    </button>
+                {/if}
+            </div>
+        {/if}
         <!-- Both guarded rather than always rendered: `venue` is the empty string
              and `organizers` is empty on every hackathon there is (Hackathon
              carries neither field), and an empty span plus an empty flex row still
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/TrackBreakdown.svelte b/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/TrackBreakdown.svelte
index 7e380b22..20cff332 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/TrackBreakdown.svelte
+++ b/components/frontend/src/lib/components/hackathon/TrackBreakdown.svelte
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
         approvedCount === 1 ? '1 project' : `${approvedCount} projects`,
     );
     const trackLabel = $derived(tracks.length === 1 ? '1 track' : `${tracks.length} tracks`);
+    // The count is already the figure when there are no bars, so the link does not
+    // repeat it — three renderings of the same number in one card is what this
+    // card is trying to stop being.
+    const linkLabel = $derived(tracks.length > 0 ? projectLabel : 'projects');
 </script>
 
 <!--
@@ -35,19 +39,33 @@
   parity, so the colour changed with position and meant nothing. Length carries
   the magnitude, and a track with no projects still shows its name — an empty
   track is worth knowing about, especially for whoever created it.
+
+  With no tracks there is nothing to group by and the count is the whole content,
+  so it is shown as a figure rather than under an apology for the missing bars: a
+  participant cannot create a track and does not need to be told grouping is off,
+  and an organiser has Manage Tracks with its own empty state. The overview drops
+  this card altogether when there is neither a track nor an approved project —
+  see the guard there, which is what stops an empty box holding half the row.
 -->
 <section class="card flex flex-col gap-4 p-5" aria-labelledby="projects-heading">
     <div class="flex flex-wrap items-baseline justify-between gap-2">
         <h2 class="m-0 text-section" id="projects-heading">Projects</h2>
-        <span class="tnum text-xs text-ink-3">
-            {projectLabel}{tracks.length > 0 ? ` · ${trackLabel}` : ''}
-        </span>
+        <!-- Only alongside the bars. Without them the figure below says the same
+             number, and saying it twice in one card reads as two facts. -->
+        {#if tracks.length > 0}
+            <span class="tnum text-xs text-ink-3">{projectLabel} · {trackLabel}</span>
+        {/if}
     </div>
 
     {#if tracks.length === 0}
-        <p class="prose m-0 text-xs">
-            No tracks have been defined, so projects are not grouped.
-        </p>
+        {#if approvedCount > 0}
+            <div class="flex items-baseline gap-2">
+                <span class="tnum text-display text-ink">{approvedCount}</span>
+                <span class="text-xs text-ink-3">
+                    approved {approvedCount === 1 ? 'project' : 'projects'}
+                </span>
+            </div>
+        {/if}
     {:else}
         <ul class="m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-2 p-0">
             {#each tracks as track (track.id)}
@@ -77,7 +95,7 @@
             href={resolve(`/my/hackathon/${hackathonId}/projects`)}
             class="text-xs font-semibold text-accent-ink no-underline hover:underline"
         >
-            View all {projectLabel} →
+            View all {linkLabel} →
         </a>
     {/if}
 </section>
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/+layout.svelte b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/+layout.svelte
index 5b38b452..9e67abfe 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/+layout.svelte
+++ b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/+layout.svelte
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@
                 {participantCount}
                 organizers={[]}
                 badges={heroBadges}
+                description={hackathon.description}
             />
 
             {#if phases.length > 0}
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/overview/+page.svelte b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/overview/+page.svelte
index a09f6f37..a13783a0 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/overview/+page.svelte
+++ b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/overview/+page.svelte
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
     import type { PageData } from './$types';
 
     let { data }: { data: PageData } = $props();
+
+    // Whether there is a Projects card at all. With no track to group by and no
+    // approved project to count it would be an empty box holding half the row —
+    // and the way in to proposing one is already a row on the state card above.
+    const showProjects = $derived(data.trackCounts.length > 0 || data.approvedCount > 0);
 </script>
 
 <!--
@@ -15,9 +20,11 @@
   here: their queues and switches live on Settings, the organiser's own page,
   which badges each count onto the tile that clears it.
 
-  Order is by how fast it changes. "Right now" leads because it is the only thing
-  on the page that differs from one visit to the next; About is last because it is
-  read once, ever, and had been sitting between two things that are not.
+  Order is by how fast it changes, and only things that change are here at all.
+  "Right now" leads because it differs from one visit to the next. The About
+  section is gone: a description is read once, ever, so it sits with the rest of
+  the hackathon's identity in the hero — and the dashboard card a member clicks to
+  get here already carries it.
 
   Page shell: px-4 py-8 sm:px-10 md:px-20 (matches participants/teams/projects).
   No width cap of its own — `.prose` caps the one thing here that needs a measure.
@@ -44,8 +51,12 @@
 
     <!-- Two-up from md: both of these are naturally narrow — a handful of labelled
          values and a short bar chart — and stacked full width they were two
-         mostly-empty rectangles. -->
-    <div class="grid gap-6 md:grid-cols-2">
+         mostly-empty rectangles. One column when there is no Projects card, so the
+         team card takes the width rather than leaving half the row empty.
+
+         `items-start`, so the shorter card keeps its own height instead of being
+         stretched to the taller one's and floating in its own whitespace. -->
+    <div class="grid items-start gap-6 {showProjects ? 'md:grid-cols-2' : ''}">
         {#if data.myTeam}
             <ParticipationCard
                 hackathonId={data.hackathon.id}
@@ -83,19 +94,12 @@
             </section>
         {/if}
 
-        <TrackBreakdown
-            hackathonId={data.hackathon.id}
-            approvedCount={data.approvedCount}
-            tracks={data.trackCounts}
-        />
-    </div>
-
-    <section class="card p-5" aria-labelledby="about">
-        <h2 class="m-0 mb-3 text-section" id="about">About</h2>
-        {#if data.hackathon.description}
-            <p class="prose m-0 text-sm">{data.hackathon.description}</p>
-        {:else}
-            <p class="m-0 text-sm text-ink-3">No description provided.</p>
+        {#if showProjects}
+            <TrackBreakdown
+                hackathonId={data.hackathon.id}
+                approvedCount={data.approvedCount}
+                tracks={data.trackCounts}
+            />
         {/if}
-    </section>
+    </div>
 </div>
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.server.ts b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.server.ts
index 03a06e86..5040f681 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.server.ts
+++ b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.server.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,16 @@ export const load: PageServerLoad = async (event) => {
       isMe: myUserId !== undefined && m.user!.id === myUserId,
     }))
 
-  return { hackathonId: hackathon.id, participants }
+  // The export drops members with no address, since a blank one is a row a
+  // mailing tool rejects (`User.email` is optional and defaults to empty). The
+  // count is surfaced so a file shorter than the roster is not a silent
+  // surprise; the addresses themselves stay out of this payload — the download
+  // endpoint reads them from its own `Get`.
+  const withoutEmail = hackathon.members.filter(
+    (m) => m.user !== undefined && m.user.email === "",
+  ).length
+
+  return { hackathonId: hackathon.id, participants, withoutEmail }
 }
 
 /** The gRPC errors both write paths can return, as SvelteKit failures. */
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.svelte b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.svelte
index 034e0e13..8136f9bc 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.svelte
+++ b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/+page.svelte
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <script lang="ts">
-    import { Search } from 'lucide-svelte';
+    import { Download, Search } from 'lucide-svelte';
     import { enhance } from '$app/forms';
+    import { resolve } from '$app/paths';
     import { SvelteSet } from 'svelte/reactivity';
     import ManageHubBackLink from '$lib/components/hackathon/ManageHubBackLink.svelte';
     import ParticipantCard from '$lib/components/hackathon/ParticipantCard.svelte';
@@ -54,7 +55,9 @@
             <h2 class="m-0 text-title text-ink">Manage Participants</h2>
             <span class="text-xs text-ink-3">
                 {countLabel}{#if waitingCount > 0}
-                    &middot; {waitingCount} awaiting approval{/if}
+                    &middot; {waitingCount} awaiting approval{/if}{#if data.withoutEmail > 0}
+                    &middot; {data.withoutEmail}
+                    {data.withoutEmail === 1 ? 'has' : 'have'} no email address{/if}
             </span>
         </div>
         <div
@@ -74,6 +77,20 @@
                     class="field pl-9 pr-3"
                 />
             </div>
+            <!-- The whole roster, deliberately not the searched subset: this
+                 file goes into a mailing tool, and one whose contents depend on
+                 what is typed in the box beside it would be a trap. The
+                 endpoint names the download after the hackathon. -->
+            <a
+                href={resolve(
+                    `/my/hackathon/${data.hackathonId}/participants/manage/export`
+                )}
+                class="btn btn-sm btn-ghost no-underline"
+                download
+            >
+                <Download class="h-3 w-3 shrink-0" aria-hidden="true" />
+                Download CSV
+            </a>
         </div>
     </div>
 
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/export/+server.ts b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/export/+server.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..50618e09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/frontend/src/routes/(app)/my/hackathon/[id]/participants/manage/export/+server.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+import type { RequestHandler } from "./$types"
+import { HackathonRole } from "$lib/server/grpc/generated/hackathon/entities/hackathon_role"
+import { GlobalRole } from "$lib/server/grpc/generated/user/entities/global_role"
+import { mayManageParticipants } from "$lib/server/hackathon/capabilities"
+import { requireGrpc } from "$lib/server/grpc/client"
+import { viewerMembership } from "$lib/server/hackathon/membership"
+import { error } from "@sveltejs/kit"
+import { ClientError, Status } from "nice-grpc-common"
+
+/**
+ * The participant roster as a CSV, for import into a mailing tool.
+ *
+ * A `+server.ts` rather than a load, same reason as the vote export
+ * (`voting/manage/[categoryId]/results/export/[file]`): this is a download, not
+ * a page. Unlike that one it has no RPC handing it finished bytes — there is no
+ * `ExportParticipants` — so it builds the file here out of the members
+ * `Hackathon.Get` already returns.
+ *
+ * The filename lives in `Content-Disposition` rather than in the route, which is
+ * the opposite of what the vote export argues for. It has to: that name is the
+ * hackathon's, and a hackathon-dependent name cannot sit in a static route
+ * segment. The anchor carries a bare `download` and lets this header name it.
+ */
+
+/** RFC 4180: quote anything holding a delimiter, a quote or a newline. */
+function csvField(value: string): string {
+  if (!/[",\r\n]/.test(value)) return value
+
+  return `"${value.replaceAll('"', '""')}"`
+}
+
+/**
+ * Values go out exactly as stored — no apostrophe in front of a name starting
+ * `=`, `+`, `-` or `@`. That would defuse a spreadsheet's formula evaluation at
+ * the cost of corrupting the actual name, and the consumer here is a mailing
+ * tool, which evaluates nothing. UTF-8, and no BOM for the same reason.
+ */
+function csvRow(fields: string[]): string {
+  return fields.map(csvField).join(",") + "\r\n"
+}
+
+/** `AI Hack 2026` -> `ai-hack-2026`, so downloads from two hackathons differ. */
+function slugify(name: string): string {
+  const slug = name
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replace(/[^a-z0-9]+/g, "-")
+    .replace(/^-+|-+$/g, "")
+
+  return slug === "" ? "hackathon" : slug
+}
+
+export const GET: RequestHandler = async (event) => {
+  const { hackathon } = requireGrpc(event.locals.grpc)
+
+  // Same translation the hackathon layout does: a non-member gets a
+  // PermissionDenied from `Get` itself, which without this would surface as a
+  // 500 on a download.
+  let h
+  try {
+    h = (await hackathon.get({ hackathonId: event.params.id })).hackathon
+  } catch (e) {
+    if (e instanceof ClientError && e.code === Status.PERMISSION_DENIED) {
+      error(403, "You are not a confirmed member of this hackathon")
+    }
+    if (e instanceof ClientError && e.code === Status.NOT_FOUND) {
+      error(404, "Hackathon not found")
+    }
+    throw e
+  }
+  if (!h) error(404, "Hackathon not found")
+
+  // A `+server.ts` runs no layout loads, so the gate the manage page applies is
+  // re-derived here. It carries more weight than the vote export's: `Get` is
+  // readable by every member and hands out each member's email, so this check is
+  // the only thing standing between a participant and the roster's addresses.
+  //
+  // Through `viewerMembership`, not a plain `members.find` — an organiser who
+  // never joined their own hackathon holds ownership on the owners edge and no
+  // participant row at all, since `Create` writes only the first. Finding them
+  // by member row alone refuses the very person the page showed the button to,
+  // which is exactly the 403 this replaces.
+  const isAdmin = (event.locals.platformUser?.roles ?? []).includes(
+    GlobalRole.GLOBAL_ROLE_ADMIN,
+  )
+  const membership = viewerMembership(
+    h.members,
+    h.owners,
+    event.locals.platformUser?.id,
+    h.createdAt,
+  )
+  if (!mayManageParticipants(membership ?? undefined, isAdmin)) {
+    error(403, "Only the hackathon organizer can export participants")
+  }
+
+  // Waitlisted participants are in the file, labelled — the same call the page
+  // itself makes. Dropping them would put the row count at odds with the header
+  // and leave no way to reach them at all; the Status column is what keeps them
+  // from being mailed as though they were confirmed.
+  //
+  // A member with no address is skipped instead: `User.email` is optional and
+  // defaults to empty, and a blank address is a row a mailing tool rejects. The
+  // page reports how many were left out so a short file is not a silent one.
+  const rows = h.members
+    .filter((m) => m.user !== undefined && m.user.email !== "")
+    .map((m) => [
+      m.user!.email,
+      m.user!.displayName || m.user!.username,
+      m.isWaiting ? "Waitlisted" : "Approved",
+      m.role === HackathonRole.HACKATHON_ROLE_OWNER ? "Owner" : "Member",
+    ])
+
+  const csv =
+    csvRow(["Email Address", "Full Name", "Status", "Role"]) +
+    rows.map(csvRow).join("")
+
+  return new Response(csv, {
+    headers: {
+      "Content-Type": "text/csv; charset=utf-8",
+      "Content-Disposition": `attachment; filename="${slugify(h.name)}-participants.csv"`,
+      // The roster changes with every approval and removal; a cached copy of the
+      // one from before them is worse than a second round trip.
+      "Cache-Control": "no-store",
+    },
+  })
+}