Planned in collaboration with WICS and Hack at UCI, VenusHacks will be UCI's first women-centric hackathon and will take place all online! Our mission is to empower underrepresented groups by providing an inclusive community to foster growth and creativity in computing.

VenusHacks will be open to participants of all experience leves, as we aim to increase diversity in tech through support, exposure, and community. Join us as we welcome high school (18+), undergraduate, and graduate students to participate in our 24-hour event that includes networking, fun activities, educational workshops, and lots of coding! VenusHacks will be open to participants of all experience levels, as we aim to increase diversity in tech through support, exposure, and community. 

Submission Demo Script:

  1. Detailed description of your hack (include project name, project type (web app, mobile app, etc.), what it does/what it is for, technologies used, targeted audience)

  2. ~Demo Your Project~

  3. What is the potential impact of your hack?

  4. Given more time, what is something you would like to add to your hack?

  5. What was your team’s biggest challenge when creating this project and how did you overcome it?

Eligibility

  • Participants: Students 18 years old and older (including graduates of 2020-2021 school year)
  • Countries: All, with standard exceptions
  • Prize Eligibility: Attendees and projects must follow all eligibility rules and project submission rules. Additionally, all team-members must all be in the VenusHack Slack channel (invite sent to email) and registered on Devpost.

Requirements

Submission Rules:

  • Each team must submit a pre-recorded demo of their hack using the script below.

    • Please keep your demos under 5 minutes (we will not continue watching past the 5 minute mark)!

    • Your demos MUST follow the script + answer all questions to be considered complete.

    • Add the timestamps for the beginning of your answer to each question on your team’s devpost submission page. (e.g. 0:24 → Answer #1, 1:03 → Demo)

    • Upload the video to Youtube and submit the link to Devpost

  • Each team can only submit to a maximum of 3 categories (excluding Best Overall Hack).

  • Teams can be a max of 4 people and all must be eligible to participate in this hackathon (i.e. 18 + and current students or graduates of 2020-2021 school year, gap term/year students are eligible)

  • All team members MUST have applied on our website and been accepted as well. Additionally, all members must be in the VenusHack Slack.

  • All team members MUST create a Devpost account and be added to the project submission to be considered part of the team!

  • All hacks will be considered for Best Overall Hack. When submitting your project on DevPost, please specify what category(-ies) your hack belongs to.

  • Your team’s hack MUST relate to the category’s description, otherwise your hack will be immediately disqualified from that category.

  • Any hacks that have been submitted to multiple hackathons that are not women-centric or accessibility-centric hackathons happening this weekend will be immediately disqualified from the hackathon!

    • Cross-submissions must also follow our project submission rules as well as any hackathon's rules that you submitted to.
      • Women-centric/Accessibility-centric hackathons that we are aware of this weekend: Lovelace Hacks (SacHacks), Hack-cessible (by MLH)
  • Any rules broken / discovery of a breach in our rules - including after judging and the closing ceremony - will result in a disqualification of your project.

Demo Script:

  1. Detailed description of your hack (include project name, project type (web app, mobile app, etc.), what it does/what it is for, technologies used, targeted audience)

  2. ~Demo Your Project~

  3. What is the potential impact of your hack?

  4. Given more time, what is something you would like to add to your hack?

  5. What was your team’s biggest challenge when creating this project and how did you overcome it?

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$12,960 in prizes

Best Overall Hack (2)

Nintendo Switch, $60 Nintendo giftcard, and Sony XM4 Headphones for each team member

[SPONSORED] Female Empowerment Hack

A Samsung Smart Monitor (27"), Keychron mechanical keyboard, and $100 Grubhub gift card (sponsored by zyBooks) for each team member

Best Beginner Hack

75% (rounded up) of your team must have only attended one or fewer hackathons! The winning team wins up to four one-year Disney+ subscriptions.

Sustainability Hack

A 32oz Hydroflask and a pair of Allbirds (Tree Runner or Wool Runner) for each team member (up to four)

Social Good Hack

Each team member (up to four) will win a Mayuko "code;" hoodie*. The winning team will also be able to donate $400 to a non-profit organization of the team's choice!

*size of hoodie depends on availability of online merchant

[SPONSORED] AI/VR Hack

Each team member (up to four) will win a coffee maker, $50 Amazon gift card (sponsored by MathWorks), and MathWorks swag for each team member

Best Education Hack

Each team member (up to four) will win Nanoleaf light-panels with choice of shape!*

*availability per shape dependent on stock of online merchant

Funniest Hack

Each team member (up to four) will win a Hello Tushy Bidet (classic 3.0)

Best use of Google Cloud (2)

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.

1st prize: Each winning team member located in the US will receive a Google branded backpack.
2nd prize: Each winning team member located in the US will receive a Google Cloud Swag Bag complete with a beanie, pillow, journal, socks and lanyards.

Best Domain Registered with Domain.com

Register a .tech 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 Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key (2)

Using your preferred hardware or hardware emulator, build a hack for your chance to win a Grove Beginner Kit, with an embedded Arduino compatible board. 1 prize for each winning team member with 2 winning teams!

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

VenusHacks Sponsors

VenusHacks Sponsors

UCI ICS Faculty & Staff

UCI ICS Faculty & Staff

VenusHacks Organizers

VenusHacks Organizers

Judging Criteria

  • Technology
    The hack should be fully developed and complete, using a variety of technologies. The more complex the technologies are, the higher points the hack will receive. There should be no outstanding bugs and the technologies should be fully integrated.
  • Design + Usability
    The hack should be easily usable and understandable by those who may be unfamiliar with the project. More points will be given to hacks where it is evident that the team made an effort to select appropriate designs for each component of their hack.
  • Impact
    The hack should have a purpose that is impactful to its users. There should be an audience that will benefit from the hack. The more significant and direct the impact is, the higher points the hack will receive.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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