Our mission is to support and nurture women* in tech by hosting Southern California's premiere all female* hackathon. Expect a weekend full of workshops, mentorship, tech talks, social activities, food, and more! No experience necessary, you just need passion.
*trans and non-binary inclusive
Eligibility
Both virtual and non-virtual hackers are eligible to win prizes! If you are hacking virtually or entering into a virtually judged category, make your devpost include as much info as possible.
Requirements
- Team sizes are limited to up to 4 students
- Start and complete your hack during the 24 hours of AthenaHacks starting Saturday, March 7 and ending Sunday, March 8
- Make sure to create a DevPost profile for your hack and submit by 11:30am on Sunday, March 8
- Be sure to "opt-in" for the prizes your hack qualifies for so judges can find you during the expo
- Include screenshots, pictures, and/or videos of your hack in your DevPost submission
- Include all team slack usernames in the event that a sponsor who is judging virtually wants to ask any follow-up questions
- Teams must also participate and present their hacks in the Project Expo from 1pm-2pm on Sunday, March 8
This year, some prizes will be virtually judged by our sponsors. To ensure they are able to judge your project at its full potential, please include lots of pictures, explanations, and screen recordings if u can. Include anything you would say at an in-person demonstration in your submission!
Prizes
Best Overall
Nintendo Switches for each team member!
Best Beginner
JBL FLIP 5 Speakers for each team member!
This must be the first hackathon for all team members!
Athena's Favorite
Beginner drones for each team member!
(Virtually Judged) Hack for Good Sponsored by Microsoft
$1000 donated to charity, Surface Go’s plus keyboards
The project must be developed using Microsoft Azure and have a positive impact. Additional criteria includes:
- Addressing a clear need/problem for a target audience with a clear solution
- Innovations in technical design/user experience
Best Embedded Hack Sponsored by Qualcomm
JBL FLIP4 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speakers
The project must use microcontrollers or raspberry PI’s that involve sensors, daemons, OS applications, operating system variants, air interfaces, etc.
(Virtually Judged) Best Shopping Hack Sponsored by Honey
Honey Gold shopping credit ($100 per person)
Javascript is preferred, but the hack can be completed in any language/framework. The hack should embody Honey's main mission: to make money more fair for everyone.
(Virtually Judged) Best Community Hack Sponsored by Facebook
Oculus Go Headsets
The project's main purpose should be to build community and bring the world closer together.
Most Innovative Hack Sponsored by Raytheon
An internship at Raytheon for each team member!
(MUST BE U.S. Citizen)
Develop a hack that creates a trusted, innovative solution to make the world a safer place! Non U.S. citizens can still enter this category for swag.
(Virtually Judged) Best Use of Google Cloud Sponsored by GCP
(2)
First place: Google Home Mini, Cloud Patagonia Backpack, Cloud Pillow, Acrylic Trophy, and Cloud Water Bottle
Second place: Google Nest Minis
Use any Google Cloud product in your project (Firebase counts!)
Best Financial Hack Sponsored by PIMCO
$125 Amazon gift cards & PIMCO swag
Best Hack for a Sustainable Future Sponsored by Standard Industries
Bose Headphones
The project should follow Standard's commitment to "building a more sustainable world for our communities and future generations."
Best Communications Hack Sponsored by Northrop Grumman
Noise-cancelling wireless headphones
Create a website, application, or game that involves communication between different devices. Time is the only limiting factor!
Some examples:
Chat rooms/Communication Applications Virtual Reality Games,
Health monitor devices,
Remote control devices with applications
Best Climate Change Solution Using IBM Services Sponsored by IBM
(2)
First place: $500
Second place: $300
Main Criteria:
Projects must use at least IBM service/API but the use of other services is encouraged.
- Creativity and Innovation: unique approach to solving a long-standing problem
- Completeness and Transferability: impact in the field
- Design and Usability
- Effectiveness and Efficiency
(Virtually Judged) Best Game Sponsored by Activision
The winning team will receive an opportunity to visit our Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA. The experience will include hanging out in the “Gaming Zone,” meeting some of the innovative talent that develops our epic entertainment, job shadowing developers and designers, and an informal demo of the winning game. Plus, the winning team will also get a tour of the Activision Motion Capture Studio and a game development studio. Food, fun, and great swag are all a part of the journey
A project that is a video game on any platform, a gamified experience, or something that interacts with games. As examples, a gamified experience could be something like Duolingo.
(Virtually Judged) Best Mobile Hack Sponsored by Zynga
Fantastic Race Activity in LA
Built for a mobile device
Best Domain Registered with Domain.com Sponsored by MLH
Domain.com Backpacks
Domain.com provides all the domain services you need from registration to hosting to SSL certificates and beyond. Each hacker will receive a FREE domain name and year of domain privacy from Domain.com for their project this weekend!
Best UiPath Automation Hack Sponsored by MLH
Streamlined interview for a UiPath internship and a UiPath/MLH Branded Backpack
Build an automation hack using UiPath! Each winning team member will have the opportunity to interview for a UiPath Internship in 2020 with high recommendation!
Best use of MongoDB Atlas Sponsored by MLH
Branded MongoDB AirCharge Plus
Create a hack using MongoDB Atlas to host a database in the cloud! Automate the provisioning and deployment process with ease, while focusing all your efforts on your hack. Projects built using MongoDB Atlas will be eligible to win an AirCharge Plus.
Best Health and Safety Hack Sponsored by MLH
As a B-Corp, Major League Hacking wants to do it’s part to help keep people safe & healthy in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak. We’re encouraging hackers to do their part by building hacks that help educate people on best practices for staying healthy and preventing the spread. In lieu of a traditional prize, MLH will donate $20 USD to help those impacted by coronavirus for every project made this weekend in the category.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges

AthenaHacks
Team Athena
Judging Criteria
-
Impact
Is this a product that people will use in their daily lives? Will it make lives better? -
Technical Difficulty
How difficult was it to implement this project? Are there lots of APIs and libraries and languages involved? Did you use a really cool algorithm? -
Innovation and Creativity
Is this project unique and innovative? Is it a solution to a problem we have never seen before? A better way of doing something? -
Refined
Is your hack polished? Is it easy to use? Create a streamlined hack that looks as great as it functions!
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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