PennApps XVI is scheduled for September 8-10th, 2017 at the the Penn Engineering Campus in Philadelphia. The sixteenth iteration of the nation's first college hackathon is upping the hackathon to new extremes, with the world's top and most promising hackers coming together to tackle real world problems using the latest in hardware and software. Teams start working on their hacks (at 8 PM) after the Friday evening kickoff and continue working till Sunday morning (8:00 AM). All submissions MUST be made here on Devpost. Videos are optional.

[UPDATE] If you haven't already, make sure to join our Slack channel to keep up to date with any general announcements as well as any updates about how judging will work later today!

Join here now: http://bit.ly/pennappsxvi-slack

Eligibility

If you applied to PennApps XVI, received an offer to attend and went on to confirm that you will do so, you are eligible to attend PennApps. If you attended and hacked at PennApps, then you are eligible to make a submission. 

 

Requirements

Make your project, submit your hack to Devpost and attend the PennApps expo to show off what you built. You must demo at the expo and submit on Devpost in order to be eligible for prizes.

 

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$82,907 in prizes

PennApps XVI Grand Prize

DJI Spark + Apple Watch + GoPro Hero + Portable Charger from Palantir + Swag Bag from Hasura + Medal from MLH + Lutron Plug-In Dimmer Kit

PennApps XVI Second Place Prize

GoPro Hero + Apple Watch + Portable Charger from Palantir + 20 cases of Soylent + Swag Bag from Hasura + Medal from MLH

PennApps XVI Third Place Prize

Apple Watch + Portable Charger from Palantir + Swag Bag from Hasura + Medal from MLH

PennApps Route | Real World Health (Health & Social/Civic Hack)

AirPods + Nintendo 3DS XL

PennApps Route | Best Education Hack Sponsored by Palantir

Portable Charger + Gift Cards

PennApps Route | Best VR/AR or Cybersecurity Hack

Samsung - Gear 360 Real 360 Degree 4K VR Camera (2017 Edition)

PennApps Route | Best Google Cloud Machine Learning API Hack

Google Homes/Google Developer Pack including $2500 in GCP credits

PennApps Route | Best Android Things Hack (3)

First place: Google Home + Pixel XL phone + NXP development board/peripheral hardware parts for Android Things + ongoing mentorship to the team that creates a unique and creative product that they'd like to bring to market.

Second Place: Google Home + Chromecast Ultra + NXP development kit

Third Place: Chromecast Ultra + NXP development kit

Best Hardware Hack

Winning team will split a hardware kit valued at $500.

Best Use of GIPHY API (2)

Presented by GIPHY. Winners will receive a $100 Gift Card and an Amazon Echo Dot.

Most Unique Hack (3)

Presented by 1517 Fund. Winners will receive up to 3 $1,000 grant.

Facebook's Favorite Hack

Presented by Facebook. Winners will receive an invitation to their 2017 Global Hackathon (all expenses paid).

Best Use of Lutron's API

Presented by Lutron. Winners will receive a Lutron Caséta Wireless Smart Lighting Plug-in Lamp Dimmer Kits (HomeKit-enabled).

Best Use of WebGL/Graphics

Presented by CBRE. Winners will receive $100 Amazon Gift Cards.

Best Use of a Vonage/Nexmo API

Presented by Vonage. Winners will receive Amazon Echoes and Vonage Gift Cards.

Best Use of Google Cloud Compute/Big Data Products

Presented by Google. Winners will receive Google Home + Google Developer Pack including $1500 in GCP credits

Best Use of Aladdin API

Presented by Blackrock. Winners will receive drones.

Best Data Visualization (2)

Presented by Goldman Sachs.
First place: Apple TV
Second place: Raspberry Pis

Best Hasura App

Presented by Hasura. Winners will receive $1000 in Hasura hosting credits + a $500 Amazon Gift Voucher and some very cool Hasura daemon swag.

Hasura Special Prize (2)

Presented by Hasura. Winners will receive Hasura swag.

Best Financial Tech Hack

Presented by Capitol One. Winners will receive $400 Amazon Gift Cards

Amazon Web Services - Best Use of AWS

$250 Amazon Web Services Credit

Best Domain Name from Domain.com

Raspberry Pi & PiHut Essential Kit

Best Use of Lyft API

Presented by Lyft. Winners will receive Apple Airpods and Lyft Swag.

Best Use of Earth Networks Weather Data API

Presented by Earth Networks. Winners will receive a $200 Amazon gift card which will be split among the team.

Best Use of Expo.io

Presented by Expo.io. Winners will receive a Nintendo Switch.

Most Likely to be a Founder (Rough Draft Ventures)

Presented by Rough Draft Ventures. This prize goes to the team most likely to start something big. From Facebook to Warby Parker, dozens of companies got started as dorm room hacks. The winner of this prize will get the opportunity to come to New York to pitch to Rough Draft Ventures for $25K in funding.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Charlie Cheever

Charlie Cheever
Expo.io Founder and Quora Co-Founder

David Monerat

David Monerat
Comcast Director of Intellectual Property

Keshav Dhandhania

Keshav Dhandhania
Compose Labs Co-Founder and EagerPanda Co-Founder

Craig Freden

Craig Freden
Senior Technology Manager at SIG

Judging Criteria

  • Technical Difficulty
    Is the hack technically interesting or difficult? Is it just some lipstick on an API, or were there real technical challenges to surmount? This is the most important criterion that your hack will be judged upon for the general prizes.
  • Originality
    Is the hack more than just another generic social/mobile/local app? Does it do something entirely novel, or at least take a fresh approach to an old problem?
  • Polish
    Is the hack usable in its current state? Is the user experience smooth? Does everything appear to work? Is it well designed?
  • Usefulness
    Is the hack practical? Is it something people would actually use? Does it fulfill a real need people have?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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