Silicon Valley hacks is a five-day virtual hackathon open to all students. The event offers awards and prizes to winning projects. We are offering special prizes to the best climate change hack, the best health, and the best education hack, with the latter 2 areas being greatly disrupted by COVID-19.  During the event, mentors are available to help participants with their projects. Our aim is to provide all students a quality hackathon, despite the cancellation of many in-person hackathons due to COVID-19. For more information, see our website.

If you are looking to create an AR/VR application, check out echoAR. They will be providing all participants of this event with the enterprise version of their software for free during the event. You also become eligible to win their sponsored award, Best echoAR Hack, if you use their platform. 

 

Eligibility

Any student currently in high school or middle school is eligible from any country, though your submission must be in English. You may compete in teams of up to 4 people or alone.

Requirements

All projects must be started after April 21, 2020, at 12 am PST and be submitted before April 25, 2020, at 11:59 pm PST. Judging will occur from April 25, 2020 to April 27, 2020, and winners will be announced at 4 pm PST on April 28, 2020. Your submission must be your own, original work that has not been copied or used in a previous hackathon. Your submission must be in English or it will not be judged.

You may only submit one project per person. If you are on a team, you are not allowed to submit one project with your team and one by yourself. If you submit more than one project, both will be disqualified.

You must provide a link to a Git repository (GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab, etc.). You must also provide a video demo of your project in use.

You must provide a working demo of your project. If your project is a webapp or website, you must provide a link to it. If your project is a mobile app, you must provide a packaged version (.ipa for iOS, .apk for Android). If your project is a desktop app, you must provide a usable build.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$18,054 in prizes

Best Overall Hack

This award goes to the best overall project. The winner receives a $500 cash prize.

2nd Place

This award goes to the second-best overall project. The winner receives a $300 cash prize.

3rd Place

This award goes to the second-best overall project. The winner receives a $150 cash prize.

Top 5 Teams (5)

This award goes to all teams that were in the top 5. The winner receives a one-year subscription to Wolfram|One and Wolfram|Alpha Pro.

Honorable Mention (5)

This award goes to a team that did not win any of the other awards but still deserves an honorable mention for their effort, creativity, or execution. The winner receives a one-year subscription to Wolfram|One and Wolfram|Alpha Pro.

Best Health Hack

This award goes to the best project relating to healthcare. The winner receives a $150 cash prize.

Best Education Hack

This award goes to the best project relating to education. The winner receives a $150 cash prize.

Best Climate Change Hack

This award goes to the best project relating to climate change. The winner receives a $100 cash prize.

Best echoAR Hack

Winner receives a $50 Apple gift card, 1-month free Business Tier access, and a feature in echoAR's newsletter (sent to investors and AR/VR ecosystem). Winner MUST use the echoAR platform as part of their project to be eligible for a reward.

Best Beginner Hack

This award goes to the best beginner project with a strong vision and creative execution. Beginner means that this is the first hackathon you've competed in. The winner receives a $50 cash prize and a one-year subscription to Wolfram|One and Wolfram|Alpha Pro.

Best Scratch Hack

This award goes to the best project made in Scratch, Snap, App Lab, or any block programing platform. It can be an animation, game, or any other type of program. The winner receives an Apple gift card.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Steve Chen

Steve Chen
Co-founder YouTube

Eric Hansen

Eric Hansen
Head of Product, Uber self-driving cars

Joon Yun

Joon Yun
President & Managing Partner, Palo Alto Investors

Kathleen Poston

Kathleen Poston
Associate Professor, Stanford Medicine

Vincent Borelli

Vincent Borelli
Founder & CEO, Synchronous

Amy Bearman

Amy Bearman
Applied Research Scientist, Facebook

Alon Grinshpoon

Alon Grinshpoon
Founder & CEO, EchoAR

Alex Krantz

Alex Krantz
Event Organizer

Daniel Longo

Daniel Longo
Event Organizer

Judging Criteria

  • Originality
    Inspire innovation in the next generation of students. Does it do something entirely novel, or at least take a fresh approach to an old problem? This category will be based solely on the idea.
  • Impact/Usefulness
    We look for hacks that have large social impact. Is the hack impactful? Does it fulfill a real need people have? This category will be based solely on the idea.
  • Feasibility/Practicality
    We look for new and original ideas, we want hackers to think outside the box, but we also want the ideas to be somewhat practical. Is this project feasible and practical in the next 3-5 years? This category will be based solely on the idea.
  • Technical Difficulty
    Is the hack technically interesting or difficult to develop? Is it a simple API mashup or is it a comprehensive effort that leverages advanced architecture, tough algorithms, and various libraries and languages?
  • Polish/Design
    Clean and seamless hacks are hard to come-by. Is the hack usable in its current state? Does everything appear to work as intended? Does it deliver a beautiful experience? Is it mostly bug-free?

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