HackCU is back with our biggest hackathon of the year, HackCU 12! The event will be held in person from March 7-8 with lots of opportunities to meet and work with new people! HackCU 12 is for all students and people regardless of their experience or their major— we have something for everyone! We have amazing sponsors who are looking to meet and recruit you, a variety of workshops for students of all levels, fun side events, 6 tracks to submit to, and lots of prizes! If you have any questions, check out our website hackcu.org/hackcu9 or contact us at contact@hackcu.org.
Requirements
- A Github link
- Presentation Deck, Video, or Alternative
- Present to the judges in-person.
- Judging Criteria
Technology: How technically impressive was the hack? Design: Did the team put thought into the user experience? Completion: Does the hack work? Learning: Did the team learn something new?
Prizes
CU AI: Red Bull Basement AI Competition Track
1rd place:
Red Bull Swag Pack, and 6 months of an AI
2nd place:
Red Bull Swag Pack, and 3 months of an AI
3rd place:
Red Bull Swag Pack, and 1 month of an AI
General Track
1rd Place: Gameboy (and charger), Dragon Board, JBL clip 3, 1 projector
2nd Place: Hydro flask WB, 4 Echo dots, 2 HackCU tumblers
3rd Place: Cracking coding interview textbook (2), Cracking the pm interview textbook (1), The Design of Everyday Things (1)
All Beginner Track
1rd Place: 4 photons, 4 sensor/maker kits, 1 projector, 1 Fast Charger
2nd Place: The Design of Everyday Things (2), 4 photons
3rd Place: House kit (lightbulbs / Tupperware)
Social Impact Track
1rd Place: Yerba Kit (https://www.naturalhighs.org/), Foosball, Temp controlled mug
2nd Place: 3 Rocket Books, Arduino Starter kit
3rd Place: 2 exploding Kittens, Power Bank
[MLH] Best Hack Built with Google Antigravity
Google Swag Kits
Google Antigravity is an agentic development platform, evolving the IDE into the agent-first era.
Google Antigravity's Editor view offers tab autocompletion, natural language code commands, and a configurable, and context-aware configurable agent.
We want you to leverage Google Antigravity to build your hack this weekend. Enjoy free usage of the latest models through a free for students Google AI Pro plan.
[MLH] Best Use of Gemini API
Google Swag Kits
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?
[MLH] Best Use of ElevenLabs
Wireless Earbuds
Deploy natural, human-sounding audio with ElevenLabs. Create realistic, dynamic, and emotionally expressive voices for any project, from interactive AI companions to narrated stories and voice-enabled apps. ElevenLabs will empower you to build rich, immersive experiences without the need for actors or complex audio production, using simply the power of AI.
Integrate fully autonomous audio experiences into your hack with ElevenLabs and give your project a voice, along with giving your team the chance to win some wireless earbuds!
[MLH] Best Use of Solana
Ledger Nano S Plus
The world of development is evolving fast and Solana is leading the charge with a network built to handle all of your infrastructure needs. Forget high fees and slow confirmations, it’s time to build applications that are fast, efficient, and scalable.
Harness Solana's core advantages like blazing fast execution and near-zero transaction costs to make your hackathon ideas become real world projects. With Solana, the possibilities are endless.
Create a game, social app, or consumer product that relies on instant, high-frequency transactions.
Design a sophisticated trading, lending, or decentralized exchange (DEX).
Build a prototype for supply chain, identity, or payments that can handle massive, real-world volume.
Show us how you can innovate with Solana for a chance to win some cool prizes for you and each member of your team!
[MLH] Best Use of Vultr
Portable Screens
Vultr empowers hackers to bring their high-performance projects to life instantly; providing everything from the speed of one-click deployment and scalable cloud compute, to specialized Vultr Cloud GPUs that can power AI-driven applications. We want you to push the limits of what can be built when infrastructure is no longer the bottleneck!
Sign up for a Vultr account today and claim your free cloud credits! Take your next hack to the cloud with Vultr for a chance to win some awesome portable screens for you and your team!
[MLH] Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
M5Stack IoT 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 M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your group.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Sena Uctuk
HackCU Director
Sumeet Jeswani
Cloud Security @ Google
Nithin Mohan
AI & Supercomputing Leader @ Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Andrew Homeyer
Cofounder @ Landingsite.ai
Sophia Stein
Customer Solutions Engineer @ gTech Users & Products
Dawson Botsford
Founder of stopmailing.us and Co-Founder of HackCU
Lilly Jones
PHD, Associate Scientist III at CIRES Earth and ESIIL Labs in the SEEC
Andy (Andrev) Austin
Founder @ Adsora
Jay Malave
Founding Engineer at Normal Finance
Ken Fricklas
CTO @ Nodiac
Megan La Grave
Entrepreneur, Investor, Author
Priyaranjan Marathe
Software Professional
Thomas Alder
Software Engineer @ Google
Anna Rahn
Application Developer @ RSM
Korey Mercier
Leadership Alignment & AI Governance Architect
Andres Sepulveda Morales
Creative Technologist
Matt "Kelly" Williams
Founder, Speaker, Mentor/IT/Cloud, DevOps, Sustainable IT, Architecture
Celine Christori
Major League Hacking
Chinmay Somayajula
HackCU Director
Joseph Malandruccolo
Compa
Li Lee
Google
Kyle Pfromer
Compa
Dawson Botsford
stop mailing us
Judging Criteria
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General Criteria
Judging Criteria Technology: How technically impressive was the hack? Design: Did the team put thought into the user experience? Completion: Does the hack work? Learning: Did the team learn something new?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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