In the past, Cal Hacks has brought together 2,500 hackers from 143 schools and 10 countries to build everything from mind-reading golf carts to global news visualizations. We return this fall, standing on the shoulders of last year’s giant (where we set the world record for the largest hackathon ever), to reconvene the brightest collegiate hackers for 36 hours.

Come join us, hack, and help build the future!

Eligibility

  • Teams may include up to five members.
  • All hacks must be built at Cal Hacks by registered participants.
  • Hackers must be current undergraduates in college.
  • High school students may participate remotely and submit for the Best High-school Hack.

Requirements

A valid submission is a software or hardware hack produced at Cal Hacks, from start to finish.

This includes a ChallengePost submission to Cal Hacks and a demonstration during the Hack Expo on Sunday, November 13, 2016. Please include a video or photo of the working product.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$49,930 in prizes
1st Place Award
1 winner

Makerbot 3D Desktop Replicator (1) + Amazon Dot(for each team member) + Dinner with Pear Partner + A private you of IBM Innovation Space in San Francisco and lunch (travel cost not included) + Developer Survival Kit Backpack from IBM + Oculus Rifts for all teammates

2nd Place Award
1 winner

1 PrintrBot Plus 3D Printer + Amazon Dots (for each team member) + Luma Wi-Fi Units (for each team member) + Developer Survival Kit Backpack from IBM

3rd Place Award
1 winner

Jawbone BIG JAMBOX Wireless Bluetooth Speakers (for each team member) + 2 Raspberry Pi Model B's Kits + 2 Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+ Kits + Developer Survival Kit Backpack from IBM

IBM Sponsor Prize
1 winner

GoPros for each team member

Capital One API Award
1 winner

$300 Amazon Gift Cards for each member of the winning team

Square API Prize
1 winner

$1000 for team in cash

NEC API Award
1 winner

Amazon Alexa's for each team member

Amadeus API Award
1 winner

$2000

Synaptics API Prize - Most Innovative Hack with Fingerprint Sensor
1 winner

There will be 2 prizes: Most Innovative Hack with Synaptics Fingerprint Sensor: $1,000 team prize.

Synaptics Most Innovative Hack with Synaptics Large Touchscreen
1 winner

Most Innovative Hack with Synaptics Large Touchscreen: $1,000 team prize

Blackrock
1 winner

Quadcopter drones for each member of the team

KLA Tencor
1 winner

Drones and Lunch with KLA-Tencor’s Chief Engineering Officer

Challenge: FOUP Me challenge is to move one of these FOUPs via robotics by a distance of 3 feet to a target zone within 5 minutes. Scoring is based on KLA-Tencor Hackathon Criteria Impact, Innovation, Technology, Execution.

RapidAPI Prize
1 winner

Drones for the best use of RapidAPI for each team member

GoDaddy API Prize
1 winner

~ secret ~

Best Use of Microsoft Technology Award
1 winner

Surface Pro 4 (i7) for each team member

Cycle.io API Award
1 winner

$200 in Amazon credit for team to share.
$100 in Cycle credit per team member

SAP Best Travel Hack Award
1 winner

Drones for all members of the team

Tanvas API Award
1 winner

Remote drone w/ HD Camera for each participant and early access to Tanvas developer kit

Twilio API Prize
1 winner

Amazon Dots for the best use of the Twilio API for each team member.

Nasdaq API Award
1 winner

Invitation to join the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center Site and a photo of teammates on Market Site digital billboard in the heart of Times Square.

1517 API Award
1 winner

$1,000 grant + $5,000 in AWS credits + future mentorship

Best Veterans Hack
1 winner

Divoom Customizable Light-up Bluetooth Speakers for each team member

Best Mobile App
1 winner

Pebble Time Smartwatches for each team member.

Best Security Hack
1 winner

GoPro for each member of the team from Fireeye

Best Hardware Hack
1 winner

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Kits for each team member.

Best VR Hack
1 winner

Kinect for Windows 2.0 Dev Kits for each team member

Best Gaming Hack
1 winner

Kinect for Windows 2.0 Dev Kits for each team member

Best 3D Printer Hack
1 winner

1 Up Plus2 3D Printer

Best Social Impact Hack
1 winner

LED Backlit Gaming Keyboards for each team member

Best Beginner Hack ("Hello World")
1 winner

Cheerwing Soma Quadcopter Drones with Wi-Fi Cameras for each team member

Best Web App
1 winner

Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+ Kits for each team member

Best Potential Startup Hack
1 winner

Lunch with a Pear Partner

Best Health App
1 winner

Fitbits for each team member

Best Education Hack
1 winner

Kindles for each team member

Best UI/UX Prize
1 winner

Polaroid Camera + Polaroid Film for each team member

Best ML Hack
1 winner

A foam roller and an interview with Pavlov.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

DDOski

DDOski
Cal Hacks

Judging Criteria

  • Potential Positive Impact
    Is this a product that people will use in their daily lives? Will it make lives better?
  • User Interface and Experience
    How refined does the app look? Is it smooth? Are there animations and cool image assets?
  • Originality and Innovation
    Is this project unique and innovative? Is it a solution to a problem we have never seen before? A better way of doing something?
  • Technical Difficulty
    How difficult was it to implement this project? Are there lots of APIs and libraries and languages involved? Did you use a really cool algorithm?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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