PickHacks is the annual hackathon hosted by Missouri S&T. Meet other hackers from around the world while challenging yourself to grow in your knowledge and expertise.

The event starts on Hopin at 5:30 pm CDT on April 8th, and projects must be submitted here on Devpost by 10:00 am CDT on April 10th.

Create anything related to this year's 3 well-being tracks: mental, physical, and financial fitness! Ultimately, you'll submit your project to one of these. Make something you'd enjoy, and try to push the boundaries of what you know! The important part of this weekend is to have fun and learn something new.

Prizes are given to the top two submissions in each category, along with a few special prizes given separately. Unfortunately, our international hackers are not able to receive swag, however, they are still eligible to win our awesome prizes.

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If you haven't already, check out our website and sign-up!

Registration closes 8:00 am CDT on April 7th.

Requirements

Overview

In addition to submitting your hack to Devpost by 10:00 am CDT Sunday, April 10th, we ask that your team also create and upload a video demonstration of your hack no longer than 5 minutes. Don't forget to include the link to your video along with your Devpost submission so that our judges can watch it. This video will serve as time for your team to demonstrate what you all were able to come up with over the course of PickHack. Essentially, your team should simply pretend that you’re giving a live presentation of your hack. The video demonstration can be made however your team best sees fit, and to help you out, we’ve listed some suggestions of topics to go over in your demo video.

If you have any questions about submitting to Devpost, don't be afraid to ask one of the organizers on Discord.

Project Submission Requirements

Must be new, original work for this event.
Can use past ideas, but all code has to be fresh coming in.
You cannot submit to other hackathons with this project.
Make sure to specify which of the three well-being tracks (mental, physical, or financial) your project is competing in.
Finally, if applicable, make sure to specify your eligibility for best beginner hack and/or best women's hack in your project description to be counted!
- Note: For Best Beginner Hack your team must be majority beginner or high school, a 50% split is not eligible.
- Note: For Best Women's Hack, a 50% split is eligible.

Video Submission Requirements

Videos can be maximum of 5 minutes in length.
You can submit however you find easiest. YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, anything that works.
Include links to your project code if it's on repl.it, Netlify, GitHub, or anywhere else.
Include the domain of any website you registered through Domain.com, even if you didn't end up using it.

Additional Tips

Having trouble thinking of what should go into your demo video or write-up? Check out this example post from our friends at VTHacks which has a lot of good information about making a great submission! Furthermore, below are a couple more tips to make sure you record the best video possible!

Basics:

What’s the name of your hack?
What does your hack do?
What area of wellbeing does your hack focus on?
Did you have fun and/or did you learn something new?
With more time, how would you further improve your hack?

Technical Know-How:

Briefly cover the tech you used to make your hack.
Show/walkthrough the code.
Did you face any challenges while working, and if so, how did you overcome them?

Showmanship:

Demonstrate the uniqueness of your hack.
What inspired you to build this hack?
Why do you think your hack should win?

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$11,970 in prizes

1st Place - Mental Wellness Track

Each member of the winning group will receive a CordaRoy's Chenille Bean Bag Chair & Sivio Sherpa Fleece Weighted Blanket.

Runner Up - Mental Wellness Track

Each member of the winning group will receive a Google Nest Audio & Google Nest Hub.

1st Place - Physical Wellness Track

Each member of the winning group will receive a Garmin Fenix 6 or Apple Watch Series 7.

Runner Up - Physical Wellness Track

Each member of the winning group will receive an Apple Watch SE or Garmin Instinct.

1st Place - Financial Wellness Track

Each member of the winning group will receive a GIGABYTE G34WQC A-34" Monitor.

Runner Up - Financial Wellness Track

Each member of the winning group will receive a StockPile giftcard.

Best Beginner Hack (2)

Each member of the winning group will receive a Bose Soundlink Color 2. Hacks eligible for this prize are those from groups where 50% or more are comprised of hackers for whom PickHacks is their first or second hackathon.

Best Women's Hack (2)

Each member of the winning group will receive a Dell 27" Monitor. Hacks eligible for this prize are those from groups where 50% or more are comprised of hackers who identify as female or non-binary.

Panera's Freshest Idea

At Panera, our mission and purpose is “One Panera for a Healthier and Happier World”. We would like to award the team that has the best wellness hack that supports our mission.

Four $100 Panera Gift Cards plus each member of the winning team will have the opportunity to interview for a position on our Summer Technology Innovation Intern Team!

John Deere's Hack Challenge

Create an application that determines field profitability by considering seed costs, fertilizer costs, herbicide costs, current crop prices, etc.

$75 Amazon Gift Cards for each member of the winning team

Best AssemblyAI Hack

The team that builds the best project using the AssemblyAI API.

Receive $50 Amazon gift card per person on the winning team.

Cigna's Most Accessible Hack

This will be awarded to the team that best incorporates inclusive design practices into their hack, including all efforts taken to address accessibility concerns which often are overlooked.

Cigna’s VIP Wellness Kit, a duffel bag holding wellness supplies including a 21 oz. bike bottle, a hot/cold bead pack, a stress ball, resistance bands, and a few other wellness items. 18 Oz. glass drinking bottle, and Journal

Most Creative Use of Twilio

Twilio allows you to incorporate mobile messaging, phone calls and a ton of other awesome communication features right into your hackathon project using web service APIs. Are you building an e-commerce website and want to send text notifications or email confirmations once an order is completed? Or maybe your application needs to verify users based on their mobile numbers? Twilio makes all this possible and more. Build a hack that simplifies your life using any one of Twilio’s APIs for a chance to win a Twilio Swag Box and GameGo Console for you and each of your teammates!

Best Use of Google Cloud

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. Each winning team member located in the US will receive a Google Cloud Swag Bag complete with a beanie, pillow, journal, socks and lanyards. International winners will receive a Google branded backpack.

Best Domain Name from 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.

Best Use of MATLAB

MATLAB and Simulink are computation tools used at more than 5,000 institutions worldwide. Use their software in your next hack to win some exclusive MathWorks swag including a MathWorks branded cinch bag, pair of socks, baseball cap, stylus pen & deck of cards! You can also claim a free MATLAB software license to get started.

Judges

Sahra Sedigh Sarvestani
Associate Professor for Computer Engineering dept. at Missouri S&T

Ahmad Alsharoa
Associate Professor for Computer Engineering dept. at Missouri S&T

Michael Hilgers
Professor for Business & Information Tech dept. at Missouri S&T

Daniel Swan
Developer Lead at Panera Bread

Vernon Adamson
Solution Architect at Panera Bread

Stephanie Stark
Technology Innovation team at Panera Bread

Daniel Sitek
Software Developer at Panera Bread

Leah Haugh
Mobile Developer at John Deere

Connor Pautz
Software Developer at Tradebot

PickHacks Team
Missouri S&T's ACM-Hack

Judging Criteria

Please refer to the Requirements heading above to find the judging criteria. We hope you have a fun time hacking and making your video demo! - The PickHacks Team

Questions? Email the hackathon manager