Applications to NewHacks are closed, and acceptances have been sent out.

Join us at NewHacks to transform your ideas into reality! In this 24-hour event, you and your team will make a project from scratch using software and present your project to a panel of industry judges to compete for prizes. This year, the theme for NewHacks is digital education and life convenience - so be creative with software solutions to improve online learning or quality of life! 

To help facilitate your learning experience, we will host online workshops throughout the event featuring speakers from some of the top companies in the industry. We can't wait to see your creations!

Please see our website https://ieee.utoronto.ca/newhacks for more information!

Eligibility

Teams must be comprised solely of members who have applied through the NewHacks website and received an acceptance email. Submissions from teams that do not follow this will not be judged.  

Teams should be made up exclusively of students (or recent graduates within one year of having graduated) who are not organizers, volunteers, judges, sponsors, or in any other privileged position at the event. Teams are also limited to up to 4 individuals in size and must have a minimum of 2 individuals in order for the project to qualify. 

Requirements

All work on a project should be done at the hackathon and solely for NewHacks. We will verify it by your git repository.

The following ideas pertain to the requirements of the teams

  1. Teams can use an idea (but can not use materials-code from previous hackathons) they had before the event. Teams can work on an idea that they have worked on before (as long as they do not re-use code).
  2. Teams can use libraries, frameworks, or open-source code in their projects. Working on a project before the event and open-sourcing it for the sole purpose of using the code during the event is against the spirit of the rules and is not allowed.

Devpost Requirements:

In order to submit your project, you must submit the following items through Devpost:

  1. Project Name
  2. Team Member Names
  3. A short description of your design 

4. A video submission following these requirements.

It is always good to link it to your Devpost project in case other groups want to check it out. Please ensure that you select all of the prize categories that you wish to be considered for!

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$CAD3,950 in prizes

1st Place Overall

First pick in our prize pool for each team member, including Nintendo Switch, Apple Airpods, Bluetooth headphones, smart home products, and more!

2nd Place Overall

Second pick in our prize pool for each team member, including headphones, smart home products, and more!

3rd Place Overall

Third pick pick in our prize pool for each team member, including headphones, smart home products, and more!

Best Digital Education Hack

Create a hack that makes learning online better, and win Soundcore Life 2 Over-Ear Headphones for each member!

Best Life Convenience Hack

Design a project that makes menial tasks easier to win an Amazon Echo Dot and gift card for each team member!

Best Use of MATLAB

Use MATLAB in your project in creative and useful ways to win $500.

Best AR/VR Application Using echoAR

By creating a project with echoAR you will enter to win:
A $50 Amazon gift card (per team), a 1-month free Business Tier access (per team member), and selected projects will be featured on our “Inspiration” page

Best Sustainability Hack

Create a software hack that promotes sustainable living, or find solutions that will benefit the environment. Two Portable Solar Panel Chargers and two HidrateSpark Steel Smart Water Bottles for the winning team!

Best Domain Registered with Domain.com

Register a .tech, .space, or .online domain name using Domain.com during the weekend. Each team may submit one entry per person on the team. Each winning team member will receive a PowerSquare Qi Wireless Phone Charger & Domain.com Backpack.

Best Use of Google Cloud

Build your hackathon project with a suite of secure storage, powerful compute, and integrated data analytics products provided by Google Cloud. See full list of products here: g.co/cloud. Each winning team member will receive a Google Home Mini.

Best Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key (2)

Using your preferred hardware emulator, build a hack for your chance to win a Grove Beginner Kit, with Arduino Uno R3 included. 1 prize for each winning team member with 2 winning teams per event!

Best Use of CockroachDB

Build your hackathon project on CockroachDB's open source and indestructible SQL database. PostgreSQL compatible and easy to use. Utilize CockroachDB in your hack for a chance to win a 3D printing pen for each team member. What's more, ALL projects submitted that use CockroachDB will receive a free t-shirt!

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Julia Wagner

Julia Wagner
IEEE University of Toronto Branch

Brenny Chao

Brenny Chao
IEEE University of Toronto Branch

Urmil Modi
Software Developer

Judging Criteria

  • Idea Originality
    Idea is original and described with great detail. Idea is useful in that it solves a problem, provides a service, or enables a significant function. This is also used to evaluate how well thought through the original idea is.
  • Technical Complexity
    Multiple peripherals are used to provide the necessary functionality required. Here is where we will evaluate how challenging it generally was to put your entire project together and how much you learned along the way.
  • Technical Integration
    System is well-designed and all components with their respective interfaces are working and well-designed. No bugs are present and there is some handling of complex components.
  • Working Demo
    Demonstration works flawlessly, is repeatable, and impressive. Demonstration is clear and presents the underlying design principles.
  • Presentation
    Presentation is convincing and summarizes learnings, troubles, and deep understanding of technology used. Presentation is well rehearsed, demonstrate contributions by individual members, and reflect how the team was able to work effectively together.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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