Hackathon
THE STAPLE OF ESF COCO
ABOUT THE HACKATHON
The Hackathon- a staple of every ESF Computing Conference, challenging students to collaborate, innovate, and build exciting programming projects bearing real-world relevance. This year’s hackathon is oriented around *something something global issue to be decided*, providing participants with the opportunity to design, implement, and showcase a programming project with serious real-world applications. Whether you're a coding professional or just dipping your toes into the world of technology, there's a place for you here.
EVENT FORMAT AND RULES
This year's hackathon will be hosted online, with the award ceremony being in-person on November 30th, the day of the event. Students will have 10 days to collaborate on a project pertaining to one of several themes and prompts which the Hackathon Team will release. This activity provides students with the opportunity to design, implement, and showcase a programming project with real-world applications. Performance will be evaluated on use and optimization of code, presentation, and feasibility.
AI is enabled!
In light of the ever-burgeoning use of AI in the world of programming, this year's hackathon allows for AI chatbot use. To prevent rampant AI abuse and ensure genuine human input, judges will test contestants on their understanding of their programming during their presentations.
DIVISIONS
NOVICE DIVISION
This division provides a supportive environment for beginners and those with limited experience, allowing them to develop their skills and explore innovative solutions.
More presentation-oriented
Teams are expected to explain the reasoning behind their design and aesthetic choices
VETERAN DIVISION
This division offers a more challenging experience for participants with previous hackathon or coding competition experience, allowing them to leverage the full weight of their abilities.
More programming-oriented
Teams are expected to explain the functionality and optimisation of their code.
SCORING SYSTEM
After completing the Hackathon, each team will be awarded up to 150 points according to multiple criteria from two different categories- presentation quality and programming quality. The weightage of these categories will vary differently between the two divisions, with a greater emphasis on presentation in the novice division and a deeper focus on programming in the veteran division (50-100 point split).
To ensure competitive fairness, all Y12-13 students will be automatically allocated into the Veteran division. Y7-Y11 students can freely choose the division they enter.
TEAM FORMATION
Participants are free to work individually or collaborate in predetermined groups of up to 4. The option to be randomly assigned to a group is available, but this is unadvised as it may lead to communication issues.
PRIZES
Prizes from our sponsor companies will be available and the specific prizes being offered will be revealed on our website at a later date.
OTHER DETAILS
Other details, such as the marking rubric and the Hackathon prompt, will be revealed closer to the day of the event.
SCHEDULE
Group confirmation:
Friday, Nov 15. Groups are confirmed via email. Participants can begin correspondence and coordination.
Online launch:
Monday, Nov 18. Titles, rubrics, and prompts are released. Groups can begin working on their projects.
Submission:
Thursday, Nov 28. All groups hand in relevant project files and slideshows.
Online Presentation and Q&A:
Friday, Nov 29. Each team runs a 10-minute online presentation and answers questions from Hackathon judges.
Award ceremony:
Saturday, Nov 30. Awards are given to Hackathon winners on the day of ESF CoCo.