What is WaffleHacks
WaffleHacks is a 48-hour student-organized hackathon working to bring technical solutions to your local communities and small businesses. We welcome all students, of high school level and beyond, and of all technical proficiency levels, to join us on June 23rd - 25th, 2023.
Our Origin
Due to the pandemic, a group of first-year college students was forced to experience a summer of opportunity online. Stuck in quarantine, it was hard to form connections, especially going into their freshman year of college. However, this did not stop them from them creating a warm and supportive community. To pay homage to their unbreakable bond, they worked together and created WaffleHacks. The purpose of WaffleHacks is to inspire high school and undergraduate students to look within their communities and build new opportunities that would benefit the world around them.
Requirements
A video (2-3 minutes) must be submitted to Devpost with a full description of your project. This should include your inspiration, design process, and the final product, among other details.
A Github link to your source code is required for all prize-winning tracks unless otherwise specified. If you are submitting a project for the Best UI/UX Hack, you may include a link to the working prototype and do not need a github link.
We expect all projects to be created solely within the time period of WaffleHacks. There is also no cross-submission allowed with other hackathons. Your team will be disqualified if you violate any of these conditions.
Prizes
[TRACK] Best Hack for Student Food Insecurity
Innovative solutions are needed to end student food insecurity! By utilizing technology to connect students with resources, we can revamp campus dining and create sustainable food assistance programs. There are endless possibilities, and we're ready to help college and university students find affordable, nutritious meals.
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• a Dezin Electric Hot Pot
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsor Wolfram Language
[TRACK] Best Hack for Travel
Looking for a change of scenery? This category challenges you to design and develop innovative, user-friendly, and practical solutions for the travel industry. Maybe you'll develop a new booking platform that streamlines the process of finding and reserving flights and hotels. Or maybe you'll create an app that helps travelers plan and optimize their itineraries, taking into account things like budget, duration of trip, and must-see attractions. There's infinite possibilities! Whatever your idea may be, participants in this track have the opportunity to work on projects that have the potential to revolutionize the way we travel. Come prepared to let your creativity roam free!
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• MATEIN Travel Backpack
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsor Wolfram Language
[TRACK] Best Hack for Accessibility
Get ready for a weekend of innovation and social impact at the accessibility track! This track is all about creating solutions to address specific, real-world challenges faced by people with disabilities. Whether you create an app to help blind or low vision individuals navigate unfamiliar environments, develop a browser extension to help people better navigate web content, or design a tool to allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing more easily and affordably access interpreting services, your goal is to make a real, tangible impact on the lives of people with disabilities. So come ready to roll up your sleeves and make a difference in the world of digital accessibility!
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• Arduino Uno Starter Kit
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsor Wolfram Language
[TRACK] Best Hack for Sustainability
Are you passionate about making a sustainable impact? From a global scale to creating change in your own community; if that's your jam, then create a project that can contribute to a better and more sustainable future! This category is open to any hack or solution that supports an industrial, business, environmental, or any applicable cause.
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• TILTOP Hydroponics Growing System
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsor Wolfram Language
Best Beginner Hack
Your first time attending a hackathon or creating a hack? Then this track is for you! To be applicable for this track, at least half of your team must be first-time hackers. Any theme, any project, any proposal, or any design can be considered for this track. Projects will be evaluated based on creativity, usability, and technical complexity. Create your first project and learn while you're here!
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• LEGO Architecture London Skyline 21034 Collectible Model Building Kit
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsors BlueProton & Wolfram Language
Best Use of Data Hack
Data is the most powerful resource of our times, and there're uncountable cool things you can do with it! Get cracking with a cool data API on visualizations, analysis, and integrate it seamlessly into your product! Whether you're a Kaggle champion or you were just introduced to the fascinating world of Data Science, this category is for anyone that seeks creative solutions by using this incredible resource.
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• JuiceBox from Juice Analytics License (Premier Data storytelling dynamic tool)
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsors Belmont Data Collaborative & Wolfram Language
Best UI/UX Hack
Get ready to flex your design muscles and create the ultimate user-centered software product! Whether you're a seasoned designer or just starting out, this category is for anyone who is passionate about creating intuitive and engaging user experiences. You'll have the chance to come up with a brand new software product or give an existing one a fresh redesign, all while keeping in mind the needs and goals of the end user. Whether it's a mobile app, website, or something else entirely, the sky's the limit! Just make sure to consider factors like usability, aesthetics, and overall user satisfaction as you brainstorm and design. This category is open to designers, developers, and anyone else who is excited about UI/UX.
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• HUION Inspiroy H1060P Graphics Drawing Tablet
Best Diversity & Culture Hack
The Diversity and Inclusion track encourages attendees to come together and work on projects that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech industry and beyond. By embracing and celebrating different cultures and backgrounds, we can create a more inclusive and innovative community. Teams in this track have the chance to develop solutions that address issues of diversity and inclusion, such as creating tools to promote equal access to education and employment opportunities for people of all cultures and backgrounds, or designing platforms that amplify underrepresented voices and perspectives. Participants have the chance to make a real impact on conversations about diversity and inclusion in tech. The winning projects in this track will be recognized for their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. Come join us and be a part of creating a more inclusive and culturally rich community!
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• Soprano Ukulele
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsor Wolfram Language
Best Use of AI Hack
While we're all still wrapping our heads around the marvelous AI products that have come around in the last few years (months? weeks? days?), you can get started out actually building using them! You're free to use ChatGPT, DALL-E, GPT-3, Watson, or any other platform that you find interesting. This category is for people on their way to honing our newfound superpowers to make useful and fun products.
Up to 4 team members will receive:
• ESP-EYE microcontroller
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|One Personal Edition
• 1-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
This prize is kindly sponsored by our tiered sponsor Wolfram Language
Best Use of Streamlit
Want to take your Python skills to the next level? Streamlit is an open-source Python library that makes it easy to build and share 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 a Pimoroni PicoSystem programmable gaming system for you and each member of your team.
Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
MongoDB Atlas takes the leading modern database and makes it accessible in the cloud! Get started with a $50 credit for students or sign up for the Atlas free forever tier (no credit card required). Along with a suite of services and functionalities, you'll have everything you need to manage all of your data! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5GO IoT Starter Kit for you and each member of your team.
Best use of Google Cloud
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. Winners will receive a Google Cloud branded backpack!
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!
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 prize 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!
Honorable Mention for Travel
Honorable Mention for Food Insecurity
Honorable Mention for Accessibility
Honorable Mention for Sustainability
Honorable Mention for Beginner Hacks
Honorable Mention for UI/UX
Honorable Mention for Diversity & Culture
Honorable Mention for Use of AI
Honorable Mention for Use of Data
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
WaffleHacks Judges
Sreeram Ramji
Chandra Kuchi
Maksim Zemskov
Pavel Komarov
Azamat Nurkhojayev
Jess Ingrassellino
Marsh Sutherland
Nuralem Abizov
Denis Kondratev
Tevy Grosch
Charles Apigian
Aziman from MLH
Judging Criteria
-
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"? -
Design:
Did the team put thought into the user experience? How well designed is the interface? For a website, this might be about how beautiful the CSS or graphics are. Is it easy to use or does it use a cool interface? -
Originality
Inspire innovation in the next generation of students. Does it do something entirely novel, or at least take a fresh approach to an old problem? This category will be based solely on the idea behind your project, regardless of functionality. -
Impact/Usefulness
We look for hacks that have large social impact. Is the hack impactful? Does it fulfill a real need people have? This category will be based on the idea behind your project and its planned functionality (not necessarily fully working). -
Feasibility/Practicality
We look for new and original ideas, we want hackers to think outside the box, but we also value practicality. Is this project feasible and practical in the next 3-5 years? This category will be based on both the idea & functionality behind your project.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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