Over 36 caffeine-filled, sleepless hours, students from both the University of Tennessee and outside the university will brainstorm, build, break, test, and deploy whatever they imagine for the chance to win amazing prizes, while interacting with professional mentors and engineers, meeting recruiters, and listening to great tech talks and tutorials from sponsors. When not hacking, take a break to go to the hill and play ultimate frisbee, enjoy a cup stacking competition, pick up that sweet swag, and participate in other mini-games. Did we mention there will also be an excess of free food, hacker-controlled music, many snack breaks, unlimited drinks, and endless caffeine?
For more information, including our FAQ and the link to join our Slack channel, go to volhacks.org.
If you are a sponsor or know a sponsor that would like to help make this event happen, please email sponsor@volhacks.org.
Eligibility
Individuals over 18 years in age, who are undergraduate or graduate students at a college or university, or who graduated within the last year. Teams may have up to four members.
Requirements
Build whatever you can imagine, as long as it abides by the MLH Code of Conduct and does not violate any University of Tennessee, Knoxville policies.
Specifically, we encourage the submission of hacks composed of software, hardware, VR/AR, IoT/embedded devices, and anything you can conjure up with your laptop and what you have available (which includes MLH's Hardware Lab).
See the Judging Criteria section for what the presentation round judges and the final round judges will be looking for in your hack.
Prizes
$10,372 in prizes
First Place: MonopriceMini 3D Printer, Free Company Formation, Two Tickets to 36|86 Conference, One Year of Standard Subscription to Initial State API
One 3D printer for each member of the winning team, the entire team receives the full company formation package from Clerky (https://www.clerky.com/), two tickets to the 2017 36|86 Southeastern Entreprenueurship Conference (http://3686south.com/), and one year of the standard subscription to the Initial State API (https://www.initialstate.com/) per member of the winning team.
Second Place: Amazon Echo, Leather Folios from TEKsystems, One Year of Standard Subscription to Initial State API
One Amazon Echo for each member of the winning team, one leather folio with laptop tablet sleeve per member of the winning team from TEKsystems, and one year of the standard subscription to the Initial State API (https://www.initialstate.com/) per member of the winning team.
Third Place: CanaKit Raspberry Pi Ultimate Kit, Breakout Knoxville passes from Cirrus Insight, RC Millenium Falcons from Pilot Flying J, One Year of Standard Subscription to Initial State API
One CanaKit Raspberry Pi Ultimate Kit for each member of the winning team, one pass to Breakout Knoxville for each member of the winning team from Cirrus Insight, One Remote Control Millenium Falcon Quad from Pilot Flying J per member of the winning team (https://www.walmart.com/ip/44932270), and a one year of the standard subscription to the Initial State API (https://www.initialstate.com/) per member of the winning team.
Best Use of Esri API: Parrot Quadcopter Drone
For best use of Esri's API (https://developers.arcgis.com/). One for each member of the winning team.
Best Hack with IBM Watson IoT on Bluemix: Apple Watch
One Apple Watch (Series 1) for each member of the team.
Best Use of Initial State API: One Year Pro Subscription to Initial State API
One access code for each member of the winning team to the Pro Subscription of the Initial State API (https://www.initialstate.com/) for one year.
Best Use of Location from Yik Yak
Yik Yak Branded Backpack. One prize for each member of the winning team.
Best Use of Eventbrite API: Eventbrite Backpack and Charger
For best use of Eventbrite's API (https://developer.eventbrite.com/). Only one portable USB charger and one backpack to share among the winning team.
Best Use of AWS: 1 TB Hard Drives
For the best use of Amazon Web Services.
One for each member of the winner team.
Best Domain Name from Domain.com: Domain.com Swag Bags
Using the Free .com, .net, and .org from Domain.com and MLH
Watch Dogs® 2 Best Device Privacy Hack
Helps users better understand their digital footprint or control their personal data.
Best Hack on .tech Domain from Radix Registry: $50 Amazon Gift Cards
Awarded to team with the best hack on a .tech domain provided by Radix Registry. Get your free .tech domain at: http://www.get.tech/startups. One Amazon $50 gift card for each member of the winning team.
Best Hack Against Online Harassment: Hack Harassment Swag Bags
Best fight against online harassment and bullying.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Andrew May
Founder of Codestock, Co-Founder and Sr. Developer at CodeTank Labs
Cody Lambert
Founder of KnoxDevs, Director of Software Engineering at Pro2Serve
Jonathan Sexton
Entrepreneur in Residence and Director of The Works Accelerator at the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center
Judging Criteria
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These criteria technically apply to the 1st-3rd place prizes, but we're sure that they'll also help you score sponsor's choice prizes!
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Creativity of the Idea and Finished Hack
How novel and/or creative is the idea? How creatively was the hack made? Is the hack a new idea? -
Technical Depth of the Implementation
How well is the hack implemented? How complex is the problem being solved? How elegant is the solution to the problem being solved? How much technical skill was required to build the hack? -
Usefulness of the Idea and Finished Hack
How useful is the idea and hack presented? How much is the solution to the problem it is solving needed? How much money will this save? How many people will this help? -
Quality of the Demonstration
How well was the demonstration given? How realistic was the demonstration in the context of the hack presented?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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