Pickhacks is the annual hackathon hosted by Missouri S&T. Meet other hackers from around the world while challenging yourself to grow your knowledge and expertise.
Create anything related to this year's theme, Security! 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 2024 will be held in the Innovation Lab and we ask that all attendees enter through the east entrance. Check-in starts at 4:00 p.m. CDT on Friday, April 5th, and hacking begins that night at 7:00 p.m. CDT on April 5th. Projects must be submitted here on Devpost by 10:00 a.m. CDT on Sunday, April 7th.
Location: Innovation Lab, 650 Tim Bradley Wy, Rolla, MO 65401
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 5 2024", "Innovation Lab");
if(codingIsAwesome()) {
pickhacks.join();
}
}
If you haven't already, check out our website and sign-up! You must register at pickhacks.io for your project to be considered.
Registration closes 6:00 p.m. CDT on April 5th.
Requirements
In addition to submitting your hack to Devpost by 10:00 am CDT Sunday, April 7th, 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 security 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
The winning team will receive four Meta Quest 3 + Asgard's Wrath 2 Bundles and MLH Winner Pins for each team member.
2nd Place Overall
The winning team will receive four Nintendo Switches and MLH Winner Pins for each team member.
3rd Place Overall
The winning team will receive four Sennheiser Accentum BT Headphones and MLH Winner Pins for each team member.
Community Vote
The winning team will receive four $50 Amazon gift cards. 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 7th at 11:00 a.m. and closes at 1:30 p.m.
Best Hardware Hack
The winning team will receive four Logitech MX Keyboards. Hacks eligible for this prize are those containing some physical hardware component that the hack is built on or into.
Best Beginner Hack
The winning team will receive four TMY Mini Bluetooth Projectors. 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
The winning team will receive four $50 Amazon gift cards. Hacks eligible for this prize are those where 50% or more of the group identify as female or non-binary.
Best Solo Hack
The member of the winning team will receive one Fitbit Charge 5.
Hacks eligible for this prize are those with a team of only one person.
Raffle Prizes
The three winning individuals will be drawn during the closing ceremony. They will each receive one $25 Amazon gift card. To receive raffle tickets, participate in weekend activities or show up to speaker events.
Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
M5GO IoT Starter Kit
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, and you can get a headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! 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 TinyMCE
3D Printing Pen
TinyMCE is a rich-text editor that allows you to create formatted content within a hacker-friendly interface. Adding a Rich Text Editor component has never been easier! Alongside functionality like bold, italics, underlines, hyperlinks, or titles (to name a few), the editor also allows users to enable HTML tags, MarkDown or CSS. TinyMCE even gives you the ability to edit your text elements directly with no code, similar to the way you would edit a word document but with even more practical hackathon use cases.
TinyMCE also has dozens of plugins that allow developers to customize their user’s experience. From implementing accessibility checkers, autocorrect, and enhanced image editing to utilizing emoticons, adding responsive design with auto resize and even a ChatGPT AI Assistant. If your hackathon project accepts ANY type of text input, you can use TinyMCE to take it to the next level.
Signup for TinyMCE for a free trial and get started today, no credit card required! To qualify for the Best Use of TinyMCE prize category, be sure to render the editor with a Tiny Cloud account for a chance to win a 3D Printing Pen for you and each of your team members!
Best DEI Hack sponsored by Fidelity
Fidelity Branded Wireless Charger
At Fidelity, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are viewed as major keys to the success of their business, which is why they are challenging you to come up with innovative ways to create forward-thinking financial tech that promotes equality for all people! We want you to use your hacking skills to find and build solutions that put financial opportunities and resources within reach for all communities, creating accessible, sustainable, and/or inclusive solutions. The team with the best hack will win a Fidelity branded wireless charger for each team member!
Best Use of Starknet
Starknet Care Package for Coders
Starknet is redefining the very notion of Web3 by tackling one of the most intimidating technical challenges in the industry - scaling a blockchain while maintaining its security and decentralization.
Starknet was the first general purpose ZK-Rollup service on Ethereum in Feb. 2022, and has proved its potential to be a market leader. Essentially, it increases the processing speed, while reducing the cost of operating on the Ethereum blockchain.
As a result, we are seeing a variety of “traditional” tech businesses - payments / social media / AI / online gaming - now being integrated with blockchains using our technology.
Moreover, the Starknet community is a growing pool of global talent - from feisty college students to some of the most illustrious PhDs in the world.
Best .Tech Domain Name
Blue Snowball Microphone & a Free .Tech Domain Name for Life!
Make your Team's Achievements timeless: Win a .Tech Domain Name for Life to Showcase and Expand Your Project, Plus 4 Blue Snowball Mics for Effortless Collaboration on Zoom, empowering you to build even more cool things together!
Best Use of AI in Education
TickTime Pomodoro Timer
Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, such as large language models (LLMs), are transforming how we interact with computers. During this weekend's hackathon, we want you to apply AI towards improving education to produce tools that support the quality, accessibility, and equitability of learning in today's classrooms. You can use AI to address any challenge teachers and students face, such as curriculum planning, question selection, teacher training, content generation, personalized feedback, automated grading and more.
For this challenge, we encourage you to draw on your own educational experiences and propose technical solutions to problems you've regularly encountered as students — after all, you are the best to know where our education system needs improvement. Design impactful and effective AI tools for education for a chance to win a TickTime Pomodoro Timer!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Cecil Chua
Associate Professor of Business and Information Technology
Shrija Maganti
ACM-Hack Logistics Lead
Michael Gosnell
Assistant Teaching Professor of Computer Science
Eric Wong
ACM-Hack Development Lead
San Yeung
Assistant Teaching Professor of Computer Science
Ricardo Morales
Director of Professional Graduate Programs and Associate Teaching Professor of Computer Science
Rahul Vinay
ACM-Hack Logistics Member
Michael Hilgers
Professor of Business and Information Technology
Vishaanth Muddu
ACM-Hack Director
Alex Gornet
Major League Hacking Coach
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 [SECURITY SCORE]
- The project, if adopted, would be feasible to implement. -
Impact [SECURITY SCORE]
- The project tackles a large impact relating to security issues. -
Uniqueness [SECURITY SCORE]
- The project tackles a unique problem relating to security.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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