Welcome to SFHacks 2025
During this hackathon, we encourage you to build your wildest ideas and try out technologies that you’ve never heard of or used before. This event is not only about problem-solving but also celebrating ingenuity. Explore and branch out of your comfort zone. Collaborate with others, learn from mentors, interact with company sponsors, and have fun!
Requirements
How to Submit
- Your code must be available publicly (ideally in a git repository)
- Your code must remain public post-event to be eligible for prizes. If your repo is not public, new winners may be selected.
- You must have completed all registration steps for the hackathon.
- You cannot submit projects that include prior work.
What to Submit
- Provide a URL to your code repository for judging and testing.
- Team name and team members
- Project description
- A 1-2 minute video going through/ explaining your project
- Your prize track selections must be known:
- For SF Hacks and Sponsor Tracks combined, you are limited to a maximum of three. For MLH Tracks, you may apply to an unlimited number of tracks.
Prizes
OpenMind Creative Track: “Empowering Robots with Intelligence”
Challenge: Best Use of OM1
1st Place: $1,000
2nd Place: $500
OpenMind: Engineering Bounties
Assorted challenges with prize values of:
$100
$200
$200
$500
$500
$1000
Gilead Sciences, SFSU College of Science & Engineering: Best Biotech Hack
Eligibility: Project utilizes technology for application in the biology/medical industry.
Prize: AmazFit Balance Smart Watches
SFSU Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Best Startup Pitch, 1st Place
Eligibility: 1 business major teammate & team presents a pitch during judging expo
Prize: $1000 seed funding
SFSU Emerging Technology: Best AI Hack
Eligibility: Project integrates AI by use of API calls. Utilizing AI to assist the development process is not sufficient.
Prize: Airpods 4th Generation
MLH: Best Use of Gemini API
It’s time to push the boundaries of what's possible with AI using Google Gemini. Check out the Gemini API to build AI-powered apps that make your friends say WHOA. So, what can Gemini do for your hackathon project?
Understand language like a human and build a chatbot that gives personalized advice
Analyze info like a supercomputer and create an app that summarizes complex research papers
Generate creative content like code, scripts, music, and more
Think of the possibilities… what will you build with the Google Gemini API this weekend?
Prize: Google Branded Backpack
MLH: Best Use of Midnight
Midnight is a data protection blockchain that offers programmable data protection capabilities powered by zero-knowledge technology to address the delicate balance between data protection, ownership, and utilization. This ensures that developers can leverage blockchain technology without exposing confidential information or losing control over their data.
To build on Midnight, all you need is familiarity with TypeScript or a similar JavaScript based library. The service is free to use and their developer documentation has all the information you need to get started. Build a DApp using Midnight this weekend for a chance to win wireless headphones for you and each of your team mates!
Prize: JBL Tune 510BT Wireless Headphones
MLH: 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, 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.
Prize: M5GO IoT Starter Kit
MLH: Best .Tech Domain Name
Make your Team's Achievements timeless: Win a .Tech Domain Name for up to 10 years 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!
Prize: Blue Snowball Microphone & a Free .Tech Domain Name for up to 10 years!
SF Hacks: Best Women Empowerment Hack
Eligibility: Project contributes to social uplifting/empowerment of women.
Prize: AOC 16T15 15.6" Portable Monitors
SF Hacks: Best Beginner Hack
Eligibility: 1 first-time hacker teammate
Prize: Corsair K70 CORE RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboards
SF Hacks: Best Hardware Hack
Eligibility: Project has hardware elements separate from participant computers (e.g., Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, etc.)
Prize: IFixIt 64-bit Driver Kits, Samsung 990 EVO 1TB NVMe SSDs
SF Hacks: Best Accessibility Hack
Eligibility: Project contributes to reduction of social barriers due to disability.
Prize: Bella Pro 6qt. Touchscreen Air Fryers
SF Hacks: Best People of Color Empowerment Hack
Eligibility: Project contributes to social uplifting/empowerment of people of color.
Prize: Keurig K-Cafe Barista Bar Single Serve Coffee Maker & Frothers
SFSU Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Best Startup Pitch, 3rd Place
SFSU Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Best Startup Pitch, 2nd Place
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Andrew Patterson
Full-Stack Engineer @Stitchflow
Arno Puder
SFSU Computer Science Department Chair
Ashly Joseph
Software Engineer @Cisco
Ayush Kumar
GenAI Product Manager @Juniper Networks
Biraj Silwal
Co-founder & CTO @TensorStax
Cecilia La Place
Engineering Education PhD Student & Hackathon Coach @Major League Hacking
Cinthya Jauregui
Founder & CEO @Cloudy
Claudia Zhao
Product Manager @Heygen
Darshil Dhameliya
Founding AI Engineer @Jungle
Dilip Krishnamoorthi
Staff Software Engineer @PlayStation
Diwakar Peddinti
Technical Lead @Trackonomy
Femi Agbabiaka
Staff Site Reliability Engineer @Fastly
Harvey Hu
Co-founder & CTO @Tessa
Ian Bateman
Co-founder & CEO @Highscore
Jithu Paulose
Engineering @Cisco
Joseph Hui
Ex-Performance Lead Engineer @Oracle, SFSU Computer Science Lecturer
Kayla Lee
Co-founder & COO @Trace
Maulik Suchak
Lead Frontend Engineer @Apple
Naveen Achuyta
Senior Network Reliability Engineer @Roblox
Parul Gupta
Senior Production Engineer @Meta
Quincy Larson
Teacher & Founder @FreeCodeCamp
Ronald Petty
Principal Consultant @RX-M, Chairman of the Board @SF Bay Area Chapters of ACM, ISOC
Samantha Ouyang
Marketing Lead @OpenMind
Saner Cakir
Co-founder & CEO @Trace
Sybil Yang
Associate Professor and Faculty Director @SFSU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Tina Sibbal
Senior Software Engineer @Trackonomy
Vinny Pham
Software Development Engineer @XREAL
Chao Jin
Senior Developer Relations Lead @Niantic
Judging Criteria
-
Idea
How well does it align with the theme and track? -
Implementation
All features presented are working. Complexity of project/features? -
Design
Is the user interface intuitive for users? How does the design lead users to different features? Is it scalable? -
Presentation
Why did you decide to make this your project/what problem are you trying to solve? Hardships and overcoming them (problem solving)? Clearly explain features. -
Track Application
How well did you utilize the technologies or problems of this track?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Tell your friends
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
