Dates

March 23-24, 2024

The challenge statement will be released at 9 a.m. Sat. March 23.

Participants have 24 hours to submit a project.

We have multiple locations in Little Hall that will serve as the main event areas.

LIT0101 from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 (We recommend taking a field trip to somewhere on-campus that is open 24 hours for that time.)

LIT0109 from 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 24, until the event concludes.

Food is provided to all individuals registered through Devpost. And energy drinks. 

Eligibility

Teams should be made up exclusively of University of Florida students who are not organizers, volunteers, judges, sponsors, or in any other privileged position at the event.

All work on a project should be done at the hackathon. Teams cannot reuse code from an OSC project, a school project, or any individual assignment before the event. 

Teams can use libraries, frameworks, or open-source code in their projects. Working on a project before the event and open-sourcing it for the sole purpose of using the code during the event is against the spirit of the rules and is not allowed.

Teams must stop working once the time is up. However, teams are allowed to debug and make small fixes to their programs after time is up. e.g. If during demoing your hack you find a bug that breaks your application and the fix is only a few lines of code, it's ok to fix that. Making large changes or adding new features is not allowed.

You can build something useless as long as you're learning and having fun. Sometimes a pointless project is one of the best! So don't worry about coming up with the next big idea or building the next Facebook. You'll have plenty of time for that outside the hackathon and at our twice-weekly Casual Codings. 

Hacking is about building and learning, not about pitching. But still try to make a fun video for the demo and enjoy documenting the process. Have it be a reflection of the journey you just endured.

Project and Submission Requirements

Your project must be submitted on Devpost within the 24-hour timeframe.

Include a short demo that shows your project's features and functionality. The project does not have to be deployed.

Include a URL to your code repository for judging and testing by making your code public or by sharing access. 

Include a text description in the Devpost project submission and a clear README file detailing setup instructions, dependencies, and usage. This should explain the features and functionality of your project.

Prizes

  • First place = $1,000

  • Second place = $500

  • Third place = $250

  • Dino Luzzi Energy Challenge = $250

  • Best AI Hack presented by the G[AI]TOR club = $200
    • The best AI hack will be distinguished by its innovative approach, technical complexity, and of course, use of artificial intelligence to solve the challenge! Sponsored by the G[AI]TOR club. It should showcase originality and creativity in leveraging AI technologies, demonstrating a deep understanding of how to apply these tools to solve practical problems. Impact and design are key considerations that will be considered during judging.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Finalists will be announced around 2 p.m. Sun. March 24 with the awards ceremony to follow. The event will end by 6 p.m.

Teams will be judged on these criteria. 

Idea Quality: How creative, original, or innovative is the idea? Did it answer the challenge?

Implementation of Idea: How well was the idea implemented tech-wise? Did the technology involved make you go "Wow"?

Potential Impact: Does the solution have a real-world impact, and does it provide some sort of value to users?

Novelty: Is your idea/solution novel? Does it use newly released features? Does it have a quality that stands out creatively?