Hackathon Website: alamedahacks.xyz
Discord:  https://discord.com/invite/bZT2vKg7Ub
For fastest responses, ask your questions in the discord server ↑

Ready to put your creativity and coding skills to the test?
Join us for an exciting, beginner-friendly 10 day hackathon where coders team up to build innovative projects that solve real-world challenges.

AlamedaHacks is a student-run hackathon designed to inspire creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving. Our goal is to bring together bright young minds, foster collaboration with peers in tech, and create an inclusive space for students to learn, experiment, and push their skills to the next level.

Why should you join AlamedaHacks?

• Build Something Awesome: Tackle meaningful problems and turn your ideas into functional projects.

• Collaborate & Connect: Work with other motivated students and coders 

• Learn & Grow: Gain hands-on experience, expand your skills, and walk away with new knowledge, friends, and inspiration.

Come ready to innovate, collaborate, and make your mark at AlamedaHacks

What to Build (The Tracks)

🟢 TRACK 1: SOCIAL GOOD

The Challenge: "Make an impact." Build a project that addresses a meaningful real-world problem and improves lives or communities.

Idea: A mobile app that connects volunteers to local environmental cleanup projects, tracking hours and impact for schools and neighborhoods. Or a mental health platform that helps users find resources and support networks.

🔵 TRACK 2: MACHINE LEARNING / AI

The Challenge: "Teach a machine to help." Build a project where AI or ML is central to producing insights, predictions, or actions.

Idea: A browser-based AI tutor that analyzes a student’s practice problems in real-time and suggests personalized exercises to strengthen weak areas. Or an image recognition app that helps identify plant species for conservation projects.

🟣 TRACK 3: BEGINNER FRIENDLY

The Challenge: "Learn by doing." Build a functional project that demonstrates your growth and ability to ship a working solution.

Idea: A simple to-do app with a clean interface to add, complete, and categorize tasks, or a mini-game built with Scratch or P5.js. Or a basic web tool that tracks personal habits or goals.

📌 Notes:

Choose the track that best matches your project’s main purpose.

Tracks are for categorization only; all projects compete equally for prizes.

Projects must be functional, built during the hackathon, and follow the judging rubric.

• Impact
  Evaluates the significance of the problem being addressed and the potential positive effect of the solution. Judges will consider real-world applicability, usefulness, and the project’s ability to create meaningful change for users or communities.
• User Interface
  Assesses the clarity, usability, and visual design of the project. Judges will look at ease of navigation, intuitiveness, accessibility, and how effectively the interface supports the user experience.
• Code Documentation
  Measures how well the codebase is documented and explained. This includes clear README files, inline comments, setup instructions, and overall code readability that allows others to understand, run, and extend the project.
• Relevance to Theme
  Evaluates how closely the project aligns with the hackathon’s announced theme or track. Judges will consider how intentionally the theme is integrated into the problem selection and solution design.
• State of Project
  Assesses the completeness and functionality of the submission at the time of judging. Fully working prototypes, polished features, and stable demos will score higher than incomplete or conceptual projects.
• Age of Code
  Evaluates how much of the project was built during the hackathon period. Judges will favor projects that were primarily developed during the event, with limited pre-existing code clearly disclosed and appropriately used.
• Purpose
  Evaluates how clearly the project defines the problem it aims to solve and the motivation behind it. Judges will consider whether the purpose is well-articulated and whether the solution meaningfully addresses a real need.
• Functionality
  Assesses how well the project works as intended. Judges will look at whether core features are implemented, reliable, and usable, rather than purely conceptual or non-functional.
• Demo
  Evaluates the quality and clarity of the project demonstration. All teams must submit a recorded demo showing the project in action. The demo should clearly explain the problem, solution, and key features. Live demos are not required.
• Time Limit
  The submitted recorded demo must be between 2 and 5 minutes in length. Teams are expected to manage their time effectively and present their project clearly and concisely within this limit.