With the rapid advancement of technology, it is important to use its power in ways that benefit society. HackDavis challenges its participants to hack for social good, and create an opportunity for us to explore the intersection between technology and society.
On January 16-17, over 600 students, hackers, and creators will come together for 36 hours of hacking. For the 6th year in a row, we're bringing the most talented students in California (and beyond!) to address the world’s most pressing issues. Participants are able to build projects that address many social good initiatives. And, for the first time in HackDavis's history, we will be hosting our event online, making our event more accessible to more students across the globe than ever before.
Eligibility
- Participants: Individuals currently enrolled in a college or university, or who have graduated at any time in 2020. Participants must also be 18 years or older.
- Countries: Anywhere! However, note that our hackathon's schedule is in Pacific Standard Time.
- Teams: Participants can form teams of up to 4 people.
Requirements
YOU MUST BE REGISTERED FOR AND CHECKED IN TO HACKDAVIS TO WORK ON A PROJECT / SUBMISSION.
- Maximum of four people per team.
- Your project must be completed entirely in the designated hacking window. You cannot work on your project before hacking begins (which is officially 9:00 AM PT on Saturday, January 16, 2021).
- You must submit your project before 7:30 PM PT on Sunday, January 17th.
- You cannot steal another team's code in any way, shape, or form.
- The decisions that judges make are final.
- You can select up to 5 prize categories to be eligible for. Everyone's hack will be included in the "Best Hack for Social Good" category in addition to these prize categories.
Prizes
$14,726 in prizes
Best Hack for Social Good
A Nintendo Switch for each member of the winning team
Best Beginner Hack
A Smart TV for each member of the winning team. Every team member must be a beginner in order to qualify.
Best Interdisciplinary Hack
A Fitbit for each member of the winning team. At least one member of the team needs to be a non-CS/CSE/otherwise CS-related major in order to qualify.
Best Design with Sketch
A license to Sketch for each member of the winning team. Your project must use Sketch's design tools in order to qualify.
Best Use of Tensorflow.js
A Pixel 4A smartphone for every member on the winning team. Your project must use Tensorflow.js in order to qualify.
Best Global Hack
Best Global Hack goes to the team that offers a way to address one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and goes to the best project by a team of hackers from multiple (at least 2) time zones. Each winning team member receives an Amazon Kindle.
Best Use of Twilio API
A Logitech webcam for each member of the winning team. Your project must use the Twilio API in order to qualify.
Best Use of Confluent Platforms
A $500 Amazon gift card for the winning team. Your project must use Confluent Platforms in order to qualify.
Best Pitch With Contrary
$500 cash prize for the winning team. Your project will be judged during the Contrary Mini-Event on Sunday.
DigitalOcean
(3)
DigitalOcean credits will be given to each member of the winning teams for Best Hack for Social Good ($250 each), Best Beginner Hack ($125 each), and Best Interdisciplinary Hack ($125 each).
Best Domain Registered with Domain.com
Register a .tech, .space, or .online domain name using Domain.com during the weekend. Each team may submit one entry per person on the team. Each winning team member will receive a PowerSquare Qi Wireless Phone Charger & Domain.com Backpack.
Best use of Google Cloud
(2)
Build your hackathon project with a suite of secure storage, powerful compute, and integrated data analytics products provided by Google Cloud. See full list of products here: g.co/cloud.
1st Place:
US Residents: Google Cloud Patagonia Backpack + Water Bottle
International Residents: Google Cloud Patagonia Backpack or Patagonia Tote
2nd Place:
Google Cloud Parkland Backpack
Best Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key
(2)
Using your preferred hardware or hardware emulator, build a hack for your chance to win a Grove Beginner Kit, with Arduino Uno R3 included. We select two winning teams for this category. Each winning team member will receive a prize!
Best use of DataStax Astra
Apache Cassandra is one of the most widely used database technologies in modern computing with a proven track record of scalability. Just ask Apple, Netflix and eBay. Build a hack using DataStax Astra’s Cassandra-made-easy service and gain in-demand skills along with a chance to win Blue Snowball Microphones for you and your whole team. It’s easy to sign up with 5GB free and no credit card needed. Start becoming a Cassandra expert today!
Best Hack for Inclusion
Developing tech solutions for an audience that has less access to technology, ensuring the innovation of AI is fair, accountable, and trustworthy. Each team member of the winning team will receive an iPad mini!
Best Health Hack
Create an emotional and mental health hack that can help people mid-pandemic form connections and cope at home while social distancing. The winning team for this prize category will receive a Wireless PowerBeats Pro per team member!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
LeShelle May
Senior Development Manager / CNN
Ralph Aldredge
Associate Dean / UC Davis College of Engineering
Fadi Fathallah
Vice Provost / UC Davis Global Affairs
Joel Porquet-Lupine
Professor / UC Davis Computer Science
Matthew Butner
Professor / UC Davis Computer Science
Nina Amenta
Professor / UC Davis Computer Science
Zubair Shafiq
Professor / UC Davis Computer Science
Christopher Nitta
Professor / UC Davis Computer Science
Marybeth Kavanagh
Professor / UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Ashwin Aravindakshan
Professor / UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Vasu Unnava
Professor / UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Jörn Boehnke
Professor / UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Pantelis Loupos
Professor / UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Elizabeth Pontikes
Professor / UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Jane Gu
Professor / UC Davis Electrical and Computer Engineering
Zhi Ding
Professor / UC Davis Electrical and Computer Engineering
Emily Merchant
Professor / UC Davis Science and Technology Studies
Mohamed Hafez
Professor / UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Iman Soltani
Professor / UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Anthony Wexler
Professor / UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Jeffrey Earles
Professor / UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Isaya Kisekka
Professor / UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Ali Moghimi
Professor / UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Zhongli Pan
Professor / UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Roland Faller
Professor / UC Davis Chemical Engineering
Sashi Kunnath
Professor / UC Davis Civil Engineering
Kevin Luli
Professor / UC Davis Mathematics
Annalaura Stingo
Professor / UC Davis Mathematics
Bruno Nachtergaele
Professor / UC Davis Mathematics
Warren Pickett
Professor / UC Davis Physics
Chris Fassnacht
Professor / UC Davis Physics
Jean Menezes
Professor / UC Davis Design
Dawn Strickland
Administrator / UC Davis Student Startup Center
Linda Huang
Graduate Student / UC Davis Design
Jennifer Liu
Graduate Student / University of Toronto Computer Science
Jayneel Vora
PhD Student / UC Davis Computer Science
Trevor Carpenter
Graduate Student / UC Davis Computer Science
Cameron Lallana
Peer Advisor / UC Davis Global Affairs
Jason Mayes
Senior Developer Advocate / TensorFlow.js
Lizzie Siegle
Developer Advocate / Twilio
Thomas Munduchira
SWE / Google Cloud
Rajiv Agrawal
Vice President / Hexagon
Innocent Niyibizi
SWE / Google
Frank Greco
SWE / Confluent
Tejal Adsul
SWE / Confluent
Mohinish Shaikh
SWE / Confluent
Allison Walther
SWE / Confluent
Dilip Champaneri
Engineering Manager / Facebook
Vish Agashe
Director / Facebook
Pallavi Oke
Product Manager / IAC
Shivani Bhushan
SWE / Amazon
Bailey Wilde
Scrum Master / Keysight Technologies
Trey Yu
SWE / Keysight Technologies
Leslie Payne
SWE / Keysight Technologies
Mario Zamora
SWE / Keysight Technologies
Judging Criteria
-
Technical Complexity
How technically impressive is the project? If competing in an API/hardware usage category, is the API/hardware used extensively? -
Polish
How complete is the project? Is it just on the design stage, coding stage, etc.? Ideally the project has 1 or more functionalities finished or close to finishing. -
Originality
Has this project been done before? Does this project make others think this is a really cool idea and question why they didn't think of it before? -
Usefulness
How beneficial will this project be to its target audience? How much will it impact their lives? Are people likely to use it often, and will they have a good experience when doing so?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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