Dates

Hackathon will run from October 31, 4 PM, through November 2, 4 PM.

Eligibility

Participation is open to college students currently enrolled at universities or colleges within the United States. All participants must be at least 18 years of age and are expected to attend the hackathon in person for the full duration of the event weekend—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—at The Link in Ponte Vedra, Florida.

Students from any academic discipline are welcome. While no specific major is required, we encourage participants to have a foundational understanding in areas such as computer science, data science, business analytics, statistics, information systems, information science, psychology, finance, or management. This background can help teams collaborate more effectively and bring diverse perspectives to problem-solving.

Team Size

Participants are expected to form teams of two to three members. While forming a team in advance is encouraged, students without a team will have the opportunity to connect and collaborate during a team formation session following the kick-off event on Friday afternoon.

We strongly encourage building diverse teams that bring together individuals with varied skills, backgrounds, and perspectives. The hackathon is designed to foster interdisciplinary innovation, so cross-disciplinary collaboration—across fields like technology, business, design, and the social sciences—is highly encouraged.

Project and Submission Requirements

Originality: New projects only. The entirety of the project must be worked on in the hackathon. Submissions must be the original work of you and your team. While participants are not permitted to use any pre-existing projects, they are encouraged to brainstorm ideas and do some research in advance.

Solution Submission: All projects must be submitted before 10 AM on November 2. Teams that fail to meet the deadline can still demo their projects, but they will not be judged.

Judges will evaluate projects based on the evaluation criteria specified.

Solutions must be submitted to this Devpost Hackathon site.

Prizes

First place award: Each participant in the winning team will receive a $500 gift card

Second place award:  Each participant in the winning team will receive a $300 gift card

Third place award: Each participant in the winning team will receive a $200 gift card

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Each participating team will be evaluated on their model generation, innovative solution approach, model performance, and presentation of the results. Winners of the hackathon will be determined based on the evaluation factor weightings and scores received below.

Presentation (20%)

  • Delivery of content (articulation, composure)
  • Appearance of content (clear and helpful visuals)
  • Organization of content
  • Q&A responses
  • Explanation of impact on stakeholders (e.g., The City of Jacksonville, affordable housing nonprofits, policymakers)
  • Suggested next steps

Model Performance (40%)

  • Communicate performance results
  • Interpretation of results
  • Technical terms explained
  • Model generation process
  • Model performance metrics

Solution Approach (40%)

  • Originality/Creativity
  • Clearly defined positive impact on the environment
  • Feasibility to scale solution
  • Operational Impact on problem partners

Code of Conduct

Our hackathon is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience of mutual respect and tolerance for everyone, regardless of the following: gender, gender identity, and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, previous hackathon experience or lack of, chosen programming language, or tech stack.

We do not tolerate harassment of hackathon participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate at any hackathon venue, which includes the following: hacks, talks, presentations, demos, workshops, any parties associated with the hackathon, social media, and any other online media.