Get ready for an exhilarating hacking experience as Hack the Valley from UTSC returns from October 4th to October 6th, 2024. This year, we're bringing together a dynamic community of 500 innovative and creative developers, designers, and creators for an intense 36-hour hackathon.

During this thrilling event, you'll have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of workshops, engage in awesome activities, and even score some fantastic swag giveaways. But that's not all – the main highlight is your chance to conceive and build an innovative project that will leave our esteemed judges in awe.

For detailed information on prize category descriptions and the event schedule, please refer to the hacker package sent to your email.

We can't wait to witness the incredible projects you create and the remarkable talents you bring to the table. Join us for an unforgettable weekend of innovation, collaboration, and endless possibilities at Hack the Valley from UTSC!

Requirements

WHAT TO BUILD

 

Build a project you're passionate about or solve a current issue, every team will be considered for the Top 3 Category. If you'd like to submit for any other prize category, please indicate in your submission.

Prize category descriptions are listed in your hacker package or below under Prizes.

 

WHAT TO SUBMIT

 

  • Write Up: Explain why you built your project, your tech stack and a summary of what your product does.
  • Code: Provide a link to your Github project code in your submission. Your project will not be judged if you do not submit this.

 

WHAT TO PRESENT

 

  • Pitch + Presentation: It's time to showcase your product! You will have 5 minutes to pitch your product to the judges, show them the best parts of it!

  • Q&A: The judges will get 2-3 minutes to ask you both technical and non-technical questions about your product.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$7,168 in prizes
1st Place Prize
1 winner

Apple iPad 9, 10.2-inch Retina display, A13 Bionic chip, 64 GB storage, Touch ID, 12MP front camera, supports Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard.

2nd Place Prize
1 winner

Acer SH272U Ebmiiphx, 27-inch WQHD (2560x1440) IPS display, 75Hz refresh rate, 1ms VRB response time, AMD FreeSync, slim bezel design.

3rd Place Prize
1 winner

Anker Bluetooth Speaker, High-quality sound, Bluetooth 5.0, IPX7 waterproof, 24-hour playtime, compact design.

Best A.I. Hack
1 winner

Playstation Five Controller

Best Cybersecurity Hack
1 winner

Apple Air Tag

Ultra-wideband U1 chip for precision finding, IP67 water and dust resistance, CR2032 replaceable battery

Best Sustainability Hack
1 winner

Stanley Water Bottle

Best Diversity Hack
1 winner

Amazon Echo Dot

Best Beginner Hack
1 winner

Playstation Five Controller

ICP x Quantum Leap Labs: Ride the Blockchain
Cryptocurrency logo
2 winners

This track is an open invitation for developers to showcase how they can use ICP’s unique features creatively. The aim is to highlight projects that could demonstrate the practical utility of Web 3 in various applications, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on the blockchain technology.

Requirements for the ICP challenge completion:
Build on the ICP mainnet (request cycles in the HackMIT Blockchain ICP Challenge)
Deploy a backend canister smart contract
Build original code using an ICP feature (ECDSA, HTTP Outcall, ckBTC, ckETH…)

PRIZE: $1,000 in ICP token for the best 2 projects using ICP.

SDG Problem Statement
1 winner

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Problem Statement:

How can we improve food security for marginalized communities through equitable sustainable practices?

EVALUATION CRITERIA:
Intersections between the SDGs (i.e., solutions that encompass more than one SDGs that are cross-cutting)
Innovative and creative approaches
Depth and relevance of solution

Key criteria to consider when hacking are including inclusivity and sustainability in your solutions.

WINNERS:
Best aligned with evaluation criteria
NOTE: Exclusive to University of Toronto students only!

PRIZE:
Cash prize of $1500 for the winning team.

[MLH] Most Creative Adobe Express Add-On
1 winner

Wacom Wireless Drawing Tablet & JBL Go3 Speaker

Adobe Express is an AI-first, all-in-one content creation app that makes it fast, easy and fun to design and share videos, images, PDFs, flyers, TikToks, logos and more. Best of all, it’s free to get started.

Add-ons in Adobe Express are simply extensions and integrations that are built upon very powerful APIs. These APIs provide access to the user’s document, connections to third-party tools, and so much more. You can extend the functionality of Adobe Express using add-ons to unlock new capabilities and workflows. Check out these add-ons to see what other cool ideas developers have implemented!

For this hackathon, we want you to build a creative add-on for Adobe Express. Users are looking for add-ons that involve assets like stickers or icons, work with presentations and data visualization, and work in roles like marketing and e-commerce. Build an Adobe Express add-on this weekend for a chance to win a Wacom Wireless Drawing Tablet and JBL Go3 Speaker for you and each member of your team!

*You can also submit to this prize category if you have a prototype idea for an add-on or have a partially completed add-on. As long as you’ve built with Adobe Express, we want to see your hack!

[MLH] Best Domain Name from GoDaddy Registry
1 winner

Hack from Home Kit

GoDaddy Registry is giving you everything you need to be the best hacker no matter where you are. Register your domain name with GoDaddy Registry for a chance to win a Hack from Home Kit! Each Kit contains wireless earbuds, blue light glasses, selfie ring light and a pouch for easy transport.

[MLH] Best Use of Streamlit
1 winner

Arduino Tiny ML Kit

Want to take your Python skills to the next level? Streamlit is an open-source Python library that makes it easy to share and build custom web apps for machine learning, data science, and more. Instead of writing Python scripts without a UI, you can create a beautiful web app, complete with widgets and data visualizations, and deploy it for free to the Streamlit Community Cloud. You can even build a fully functional LLM-powered app with just 25 lines of code! Hack with Streamlit this weekend for your chance to win an Arduino Tiny ML Kit for you and each member of your team.

[MLH] Best AI Application Built with Cloudflare
1 winner

Arduino Kit

Cloudflare is one of the world’s largest networks enabling hackers like you to build, deploy, and deliver trusted applications, no matter where you are! With Cloudflare, you’ll have all the building blocks to create a full-stack application; from C3 (create Cloudflare command line) instance deployment to object storage. You can even run GenAI (LLMs, text to image, Voice to text etc..) in the cloud and leverage your AI functionality via API requests using Cloudlfare’s Workers AI! Enjoy Cloudflare’’s generous free tier to get started at no cost! This weekend, we want you to build an AI Application utilizing Cloudflare’s numerous services for a chance to win Arduino Kits for you and your team!

[MLH] Best AI Project with Databricks Open Source
1 winner

Assorted Lego Sets

Databricks is an open analytics platform that helps you build, deploy, and maintain large scale data & AI solutions! Whether you’re working with large language models using Mosaic AI, storing data with Databricks Data Lakes, or deploying GenAI powered applications using MLflow, Databricks Open Source software has the tools you need to make your hackathon project state of the art.

Build an AI powered project utilizing Databricks Open Source projects like the ones mentioned, or Databricks friendly Open Source projects like LanceDB and Llama Index, for a chance to win some amazing prizes for you and your teammates!

[MLH] Best Use of Midnight
1 winner

JBL Tune 510BT Wireless Headphones

Midnight is a data protection blockchain that offers programmable data protection capabilities powered by zero-knowledge technology to address the delicate balance between data protection, ownership, and utilization. This ensures that developers can leverage blockchain technology without exposing confidential information or losing control over their data.

To build on Midnight, all you need is familiarity with TypeScript or a similar JavaScript based library. The service is free to use and their developer documentation has all the information you need to get started. Build a DApp using Midnight this weekend for a chance to win JBL Tune 510BT Wireless Headphones for you and each of your team mates!

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Katina Papulkas

Katina Papulkas
Sr. Education Strategist @ Dell Technologies

Donovan Dill

Donovan Dill
Operations Lead, SICIEEIL Office of the VP Research

Alex Pospelov

Alex Pospelov
Sr. Project Manager @ Nokia

Valeriia Zub

Valeriia Zub
UX Designer @ Nokia

Brian Harrington

Brian Harrington
Professor, Teaching Stream @UofT

Athika Fatima

Athika Fatima
ICP HUB Canada & US Community Leader

Erica Di Ruggiero

Erica Di Ruggiero
Research Director, SDGs@UofT Associate Professor of Global Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Nicoda Foster

Nicoda Foster
Associate Director, SDGs@UofT Institutional Strategic Initiative

Adem Ozdemir

Adem Ozdemir
Prev. Business Analyst @ Enbridge

Conrad Mo

Conrad Mo
Prev. Software Engineer @ Northern Labs

Shreyas Rao

Shreyas Rao
Software Developer @ CIBC

Sonu Kapoor

Sonu Kapoor
Sr. Consultant

Kaustubh Prabhakar

Kaustubh Prabhakar
AI Engineer at Stealth | Prev. @ X, Apple, Snapchat

James Kokoska

James Kokoska
Software Developer @ Prolucid Technologies

Anoop Krishnan

Anoop Krishnan
Security Engineering @ EY Canada

Tianze Sun

Tianze Sun
CSTF Systems Administrator/Programmer @ UTSC

Judging Criteria

  • Technicality and Quality
    The level of technical skill demonstrated, quality code, working prototype.
  • Design
    Attention to aesthetics, interaction and user interface.
  • Solves a Current Issue
    Meets a customer need, potential to be a business.
  • Presentation
    Clarity of written and oral presentation.
  • Inspiration
    How excited we are for this project, is it unique and creative?
  • Authenticity
    Is this project original? Have you seen similar idea/project before?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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Hackathon sponsors

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