Steel City Hacks is a free, 48-hour, online hackathon for middle and high school students. Through Steel City Hacks, we hope to encourage middle and high school students to use computer science to engage with their community and devise solutions to a variety of problems. All students are encouraged to participate regardless of skill level. Throughout the competition, we will be holding various workshops and seminars for interested students to build their proficiency in a variety of frameworks/services and meet and connect with students of similar interests. We will also have industry professionals available to mentor and guide you along the way, so no experience is required.

If you would be interested in volunteering for the hackathon by acting as a mentor or hosting your own workshop, please fill out this google form: https://forms.gle/xJTYR8gmiy8H3eHX9. If you are interested in participating in the competition, DO NOT FILL OUT THE FORM ABOVE and instead register through Devpost.

Eligibility

  • Be a current middle or high school student (includes class of 2020)
  • Complete the online registration google form before the first day of the hackathon
  • You and a parent or legal guardian agree to our terms in our registration form

Requirements

Devpost Submission

  • a 3 minute video(or less) demonstrating your hack. This should include the following:
    • An explanation for the inspiration for the project; how and why you came up with this idea
    • A full demo of your project. Judges will not be running your projects.
    • An explanation of all the technologies/software you used to create your project
  • Description of the project
    • Follow the template to the best of your abilities. This is where you can really expound upon the minutia of your project that you couldn't cover in your video.
  • Link to code repository
    • Preferably provide a link to a github repo
    • We do not need documentation. This should, for the most part, be explained in your description, so do not waste your time adding it to your code.

Google Form Submission

  • We will provide a link to this form during the competition
  • One member of the team should complete it
  • It will ask for the following:
    • All of your team member's names
    • Link to the Devpost submission (you can submit this google form before you are completed with the devpost submission)
    • Project name

You must complete all of the above in order to be considered for a prize.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$1,333 in prizes

1st Place

$100 Amazon Giftcard

2nd Place

Gaming Mouse and Bluetooth Speaker

3rd Place

Stereo Headphones

Honorable Mention (2)

$15 Amazon Giftcard

Best Beginner Hack

1 month of Spotify Premium membership

Best Design

Drawing Tablet

Best Solo Hack

Drone

Best Use of EchoAR

$50 Amazon Giftcard and 1 month of EchoAR Business

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Alon Grinshpoon

Alon Grinshpoon
CEO and Founder, EchoAR

Nsikak-Abasi Aniefiok Etim

Nsikak-Abasi Aniefiok Etim
Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Economics, University of Uyo

Jayshree Ranka

Jayshree Ranka
Technology Management Consultant, Aspek

Judging Criteria

  • Theme Adherence
    How well your project relates to the theme
  • Originality/Creativity
    How original is the product? Has it been done before? Is the idea completely unique and fresh?
  • Technical Complexity
    How complex is the project? Is it just a web app making calls to an API or does it use a complex algorithm to function?
  • Usefulness
    How useful could this product be in the real world? Does it have any real world viability? Would people use it?
  • Polish
    How polished is the product? Is the UI crisp and user friendly or cluttered and messy?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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