Mark your calendars for July 11th to 19th as we launch an inspiring weekend of creativity and innovation at NextStep Hacks 2025! This year’s theme, Limitless, is all about breaking barriers and creating cutting-edge solutions that empower people with disabilities. From assistive technologies to accessibility tools, this is your chance to build projects that redefine inclusivity and push the boundaries of possibility.
HackAlphaX, the visionary force behind NextStep Hacks, was founded by students committed to shaping the future of STEM and making technology accessible to all. Over the past five years, our events have reached and inspired over 2,000 students, fostering a vibrant community of changemakers.
This week-long experience is packed with exciting activities:
- Engaging workshops to expand your skills.
- Thrilling raffles and giveaways for participants.
- Mentor sessions to guide your projects.
- A celebration of innovation with countless opportunities to connect and collaborate.
We can’t wait to welcome you to NextStep Hacks 2025. Join us on this journey to create a future that’s truly Limitless!
Those interested in judging or volunteering please fill out this form: Volunteer/Judging Form.
Join our discord for more information, announcements, and help from workshop hosts and judges. If you need to reach the team with any questions you can contact them through the server as well. Here is the invite link: https://discord.gg/hFxwvgZDsh.
To tune into the opening ceremony, workshops, and closing ceremony, take a look at our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hackalphax.
Requirements
Theme Statement
Communities thrive when everyone has the tools to succeed—but for individuals with disabilities, many challenges still persist. From accessibility barriers to the need for assistive technologies, these hurdles can limit independence and opportunity. This year’s theme, Limitless, invites participants to reimagine inclusivity by crafting innovative solutions that empower people with disabilities to overcome these barriers.
Your challenge is to identify specific issues faced by individuals or organizations supporting this community and develop groundbreaking technologies that address these needs. Whether it’s designing adaptive tools, improving accessibility, or creating inclusive platforms, your work has the power to make a real impact.
We encourage you to share your solutions with the individuals or organizations who inspired them, ensuring your ideas contribute directly to a brighter, more inclusive world. Through this hackathon, you’ll not only sharpen your skills but also make a tangible difference in the lives of others. Let’s make a future without limits—together!
Submission
All submissions are required to have:
- A video demonstration / pitch no longer than 5 minutes.
- A link to the repository or code for viewing.
- A link (if applicable) to the live website or application.
We do allow you to submit your project to other hackathons (this week only) as long as the other hackathon also allows this.
If you're continuing work on an old project, you MUST specify in your Devpost what was worked on 1) before the hackathon and 2) during the hackathon.
Kinetik Gig's Future of Work:
Are you ready to shape the future of work? Submit your most innovative idea, tool, or prototype that reimagines how we collaborate, create, and thrive in the workplace of tomorrow.
Kinetik Gigs is looking for ideas that tackle real-world challenges around the nature of work. This could include AI-powered productivity tools, platforms for remote of hybrid collaboration, mental health in digital workspaces, and much more.
If you are interested in competing, go to this submission link: Submission Link
The access code is: kinetik
Prizes
Future of Work - (see submission description for instructions)
1st Place
- $1000 worth of Azure OpenAI Credits
- Final Round Internship Prize @ Kinetik Gigs
- 2 AOPS Coupons
- 20 XYZ Domains
- 1 year of NordVPN, NordPass, Saily, & Incogni
2nd Place
- $600 worth of Azure OpenAI Credits
- Final Round Internship Prize @ Kinetik Gigs
- 1 AOPS Coupon
- 15 XYZ Domains
- 1 year of NordVPN, NordPass, Saily, & Incogni
3rd Place
- $400 worth of Azure OpenAI Credits
- Final Round Internship Prize @ Kinetik Gigs
- 1 AOPS Coupon
- 10 XYZ Domains
- 1 year of NordVPN, NordPass, Saily, & Incogni
Participation Prizes
- 1000 Wolfram Alpha: Desktop and Cloud access, full access to the Wolfram Language and Knowledgebase, FreeCDF Deployment, 5000 Wolfram|Alpha API calls, 5000 Cloud Credits, 2 installations per user and 2 GB of Cloud Storage worth $830
- 350 XYZ Domains
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
HackAlphaX Team
Nidhi Mahajan
Director of Business Strategy & Program Operations @ Visa
Parth Jain
Software Development Engineer @ Netflix
Kelvin Ngoc Nguyen Le
Staff Software Engineer @ Knoetic
Sanath Chilakala
Director of Data & AI @ NTT Data
Arbaz Surti
Product Analyst @ Dunkin
Anand Upendrakumar Desai
AI Core Engineer @ Microsoft
Jeet Nishit Mehta
Software Engineer @ Netflix
Lokesh Lagudu
Senior Engineering Manager @ Walmart
Sarvesh Kumar Gupta
Software Architect @ Oracle
Kusha Maharshi
Senior Software Engineer @ Bloomberg
Sairam Jalakam Devarajulu
Frontend Software Engineer @ Productiv
Durgaprasad Balakrishnan
Director of Cybersecurity @ Visa
Rajesh Sura
Head of Data Engineering and Analytics @ Amazon
Aditya Salian
Software Engineer @ Atlas
Prashanthi Matam
Software Engineer @ Discover
Mahendran Chinnaiah
Healthcare Architect @ CVS
Omkar Bhalekar
Senior Network Engineer @ Tesla
Nikhil Jain
Senior Software Engineer @ Walmart
Anar Israfilov
CEO @ Cyberoon
Judging Criteria
-
Originality
Has this project been done before at hackathons in the past? How creative is their project in solving the problem at hand? -
Adherence to Track
Does the hack adhere to "Limitless"? Does it implement this theme fully or just partially? -
Completion
Does the hack work? Did the team achieve everything they wanted? -
Learning
Did the team stretch themselves? Did they try to learn something new? What kind of projects have they worked on before? -
Design
Did the team put thought into the user experience? How well designed is the interface? -
Technology
How technically impressive was the hack? Was the technical problem the team tackled difficult? Did it use a particularly clever technique or did it use many different components? Did the technology involved make you go "wow"?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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