About Spookathon

Spookathon is a Halloween-inspired hackathon hosted by the Iota Xi Honor Society at Orange Coast College. Open to students of all experience levels across any major, participants will work in small teams to build creative, tech-driven solutions to real-world problems.

Get started

Struggling to get going? Visit our GitHub github.com/orgs/OCC-Iota-Xi/repositories for some beginner-friendly templates to get spooky on.

Requirements

🧠 What to Build

Participants can build projects in any of the following tracks:

  • Education
  • Healthcare
  • Daily Life
  • Hardware / Robotics
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Math Honor Society Challenge

Your project should address a real problem within one of these categories. Be creative, practical, and showcase technical execution.

There will be two prize categories:

  1. General Prize Pool – awarded to top projects across all tracks.
  2. Best Math App – awarded to the project that best demonstrates creativity and mathematical application, sponsored by the Math Honor Society.

📦 What to Submit

Submit your project on Devpost by 3 PM on Sunday, October 26.

  • Include:
    • A project image or demo screenshot.
    • A GitHub repository link for any code.
    • A brief description of your idea, features, and technologies used.
    • Add all teammates to your submission.
  • No late submissions will be considered for prizes.
  • No previous projects — only work created during the event is eligible.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$1,000+ in prizes
+ other prizes
General Prize
$500 in cash
1 winner

Math Honor Society Challenge
$500 in cash
1 winner

Track Winner: Education
1 winner

Recognition and certificate.

Track Winner: Artificial Intelligence
1 winner

Recognition and certificate.

Track Winner: Healthcare
1 winner

Recognition and certificate.

Track Winner: Daily Life
1 winner

Recognition and certificate.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Spookathon

Spookathon

Judging Criteria

  • Technical Complexity
    Judges will look at how effectively your team used frameworks, APIs, and libraries, and how well you understood the tech behind them. Ambitious, original, and well-chosen implementations will score higher.
  • Potential Impact
    Judges will consider how meaningfully your project addresses a real-world problem and its potential to make a difference. Creative ideas that challenge norms and show real potential for impact will stand out.
  • Presentation
    Judges will evaluate how clearly and confidently you present your project. Great storytelling, visuals, and delivery can make even the spookiest ideas shine.
  • Functionality
    Judges will look at the scalability and adaptability of your project. How well are APIs integrated? Can it serve multiple audiences or be used in different regions?
  • Content
    Creativity and visual quality both matter. Judges will consider how imaginative the idea is and how well it's visually executed.
  • User Experience
    Judges will assess whether your application feels smooth, intuitive, and easy to understand. A seamless experience always stands out.
  • Technological Execution
    Judges evaluate technical problem solving and innovative tech. Projects using AI, ML, data science, or creative tech (any platform) score higher.
  • Math Honor Society Challenge
    Judged on creativity, clarity, math integration, and how apps support math education, comprehension, practice, and engagement.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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