PickHacks is the annual hackathon hosted by Missouri S&T. Meet other hackers from around the world while challenging yourself to grow in your knowledge and expertise.
Create anything related to this year's theme, Environmental Awareness! Whether working solo or in a team of up to 4, make something you'd enjoy and try to push the boundaries of what you know! The important part of this weekend is to have fun and learn something new.
Overall prizes are given to the top three projects while a few special prizes will be given separately. View the 'Prizes' section below to view the criteria for winning one of our bonus prizes.
PickHacks 2023 will be held in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building and we ask that all attendees enter through the west entrance. Check-in starts at 4:00 p.m. CDT on Friday, April 14th, and hacking begins that night at 7:00 p.m. CDT on April 14th. Projects must be submitted here on Devpost by 9:00 a.m. CDT on Sunday, April 16th.
import java.util.Date;
public class Hackathon {
private Date when = new Date();
private String where;
Hackathon(final String date, final String location) {
when.set(date)
where = location;
}
}
public static void main(String [] args) {
Hackathon pickhacks = new Hackathon("Fri, Apr 14 2023", "Gale Bullman");
if(codingIsAwesome()) {
pickhacks.join();
}
}
If you haven't already, check out our website and sign-up!
Registration closes 11:59 p.m. CDT on April 9th.
Requirements
Overview
In addition to submitting your hack to Devpost by 9:00 am CDT Sunday, April 10th, we ask that your team also create and upload a video demonstration of your hack no longer than 5 minutes. Don't forget to include the link to your video along with your Devpost submission so that our judges can watch it. This video serves as a time for your team to demonstrate what your group was able to create over the course of PickHacks. Essentially, your team should simply pretend that you’re giving a live presentation of your hack. To help you out, we’ve listed some suggested topics to cover in your demo video.
If you have any questions about submitting to Devpost, don't be afraid to ask one of the organizers in-person or on Discord.
Project Submission Requirements
- Must be new, original work for this event.
- Can use past ideas, but all code has to be fresh coming in.
- You cannot submit to other hackathons with this project.
- Finally, if applicable, make sure to specify your eligibility for best beginner hack and/or best women's hack, etc. to be counted! When submitting on Devpost, you will need to select to opt-in to these prizes.
- Note: For Best Beginner Hack your team must be majority high school or beginner (PickHacks is your first or second hackathon), a 50% split is not eligible.
- Note: For Best Women's Hack your team must be a majority female or non-binary, a 50% split is eligible.
Video Submission Requirements
- Videos should be a maximum of 5 minutes in length.
- You can submit however you find easiest. YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, anything that works.
- Include the link to your project code, whether on GitHub, repl.it, Netlify, or anywhere else.
- Include the domain of any website you registered through Domain.com, even if you didn't end up using it.
Basics:
- What’s the name of your hack?
- What does your hack do?
- What problem relating to the theme of environmental awareness does your hack tackle?
- Did you have fun and/or did you learn something new?
- With more time, how would you further improve your hack?
Technical Know-How:
- Briefly cover the tech you used to make your hack.
- Show and walk through the code.
- Did you face any challenges while working, and if so, how did you overcome them?
Showmanship:
- Demonstrate the uniqueness of your hack.
- What inspired you to build this hack?
- Why do you think your hack should win?
Prizes
1st Place Overall
Members of the winning team will receive a PS5 Console + God of War Bundle.
2nd Place Overall
Members of the winning team will receive a DJI Mavic Mini Drone.
3rd Place Overall
Members of the winning team will receive a Bose Soundlink Flex Bluetooth Speaker.
Community Vote
Members of the winning team will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. The hack that receives the most votes on Devpost (and hasn't won one of our other prizes) will be awarded our community vote prize. Community Vote opens on April 16th at 10:00 a.m. and closes 2 hours later, at 12:00 p.m.
Best Hardware Hack
Members of the winning team will receive a Logitech MX Keyboard. Hacks eligible for this prize are those containing some physical hardware component that the hack is built on or into.
Best Beginner Hack
Members of the winning team will receive an Acer 23.8'' monitor. Hacks eligible for this prize are those where more than 50% of the group meets either criterion: (a) PickHacks is their first or second hackathon OR (b) they are a High School student.
Best Women's Hack
Members of the winning team will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. Hacks eligible for this prize are those where 50% or more of the group identify as female or non-binary.
Panera's Hack for a Healthier & Happier World
Sustainability has always been a priority at Panera. We believe have a role to play in protecting the environment and reducing our impact. In fact, we were the first fast-casual restaurant to announce our commitment to climate positivity. You can read more about our beliefs on our food values page: https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/food-values/culinary-beliefs.html
For this prize, we will be looking for the best use of technology to help us reach our sustainability goals.
Prize: Four $100 Panera Gift Cards
John Deere's Sustainable Agriculture Challenge
Create an application or system that demonstrates the financial benefits of adopting more sustainable agricultural practices (and the equipment with capability to enable those practices!). This can include but is not limited to:
· Predict return on investment of sustainable farming practices
· Simulate how efficient pathing of equipment can reduce carbon emissions
· Create a game demonstrating how See and Spray™ can reduce the environmental impact of farming
Feel free to stop at the John Deere booth for more ideas!
The prize for this that we are providing is a John Deere cooler backpack and $50 digital Amazon gift card per person on the winning team.
Honeywell Data Science Challenge
This will be awarded to the team that demonstrates an innovative and well-executed use of data science techniques in their project. The project should show a clear understanding of the data used, the problem being addressed, and the methodology used to analyze the data.
Members of the winning team will each be awarded a $50 Amazon gift card.
Commerce Bank Carbon Reduction Challenge
The Most impactful solution for reducing the carbon footprint of banking operations prize challenges participants to submit innovative project proposals that reduce the environmental impact of banking operations. The winning team will receive 4, $100 Visa gift cards.
J.B. Hunt Mapping API Challenge
J.B. Hunt Transport will award the prize of a Meta Quest 2 to each member of the team (up to 4) that best leverages a mapping API (like Google Maps or ArcGIS) to address a need in your community, improve efficiency, or conserve natural resources. Special attention will be given to projects that implement the Spring Boot framework in Java for a back-end application or leverage Angular for the creation of a webapp. Use of either of these tools is encouraged but not required.
MLH – Best Domain Name from Domain.com
Register a .Tech domain name using Domain.com during the weekend for your chance to win a Domain.com branded backpack for you and each member of your team! Each team may submit one entry per person on the team. The more creative the domain the better!
MLH – Most Creative Use of GitHub
GitHub is one of the best ways to collaborate, push code, get feedback, and show the world what you’ve built during a hackathon. To take it a step further, GitHub is now offering you access to industry tools, events & learning resources through something called GitHub Global Campus. Win this weekend’s Most Creative Use of GitHub prize category, first by signing up for GitHub Global Campus and second by using a GitHub repository to host your hackathon project’s code! Make sure your use of GitHub stands out with a detailed ReadMe page, meaningful pull requests and collaboration history, and even a GitHub pages deployment! Each member of the winning team will win a GitHub Octocat Puzzle & Sticker bundle.
MLH – Most Creative Use of Twilio
Twilio allows you to incorporate mobile messaging, phone calls and a ton of other awesome communication features right into your hackathon project using a web service API. Are you building an e-commerce website and want to send text notifications or email confirmations once an order is completed? Or maybe you'd like to verify users based on their mobile numbers? Twilio makes all this possible and more. Build a hack that simplifies your life using any Twilio API for a chance to win some awesome prizes! Get started with $50 in free credit and each member from the winning team will win a Twilio Swag Box & GameGo Console!
MLH – Best Sustainability Hack from Avanade
Avanade has put sustainable tech at the forefront of their ongoing mission! Sustainability is about conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources and focusing efforts to reduce and improve the environmental impact of technology, processes, and operations on our planet and society. For your hackathon project, we want you to make a genuine human impact using your ingenuity to address sustainability through an innovative use of technology. Demonstrate how you can create a more sustainable future and help the environment. As an added bonus, the team with the best sustainability hack will be rewarded with awesome lego sets!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Wyatt Pickett
Software Engineer at Honeywell
Brian Middleton
Data Scientist at Spectrum
Gavin Monroe
Software Engineer at Spectrum
Dr. Ricardo Morales
Associate Professor for Computer Science dept. at Missouri S&T
Michael Gosnell
Assistant Professor for Computer Science dept. at Missouri S&T
Dr. San Yeung
Assistant Professor for Computer Science dept. at Missouri S&T
Michael Gosnell
Professor for Business & Information Tech dept. at Missouri S&T
Robert Woodley
Assistant Professor for Electrical and Computer Engineering dept. at Missouri S&T
Effat Eskandari
PhD student in Geological and Geophysical Engineering at Missouri S&T
PickHacks Board
Missouri S&T's ACM-Hack
Judging Criteria
-
Technical Ability [TECHNICAL SCORE]
- Hackers challenged themselves to learn some new technology. - Technology utilized within the hack is impressive. - Hackers demonstrated a higher level of ability than what could be expected in a 48-hour learning period. -
Creativity [TECHNICAL SCORE]
- The project explored a new technology or had unique ideas. - The project approaches an issue in a fresh or exciting way. - It’s clear the hackers had fun working on their project, and are passionate about what they created. -
Impact [TECHNICAL SCORE]
- The project has a clearly defined and relevant impact. - The project solves the problem it is addressing. - The project has implications beyond just a coding competition. -
Feasibility [ENVIRONMENTAL SCORE]
- The project, if adopted, would be feasible to implement. -
Impact [ENVIRONMENTAL SCORE]
- The project tackles a large impact relating to environmental issues. -
Uniqueness [ENVIRONMENTAL SCORE]
- The project tackles a unique problem relating to the environment.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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