We are Melbourne's premier student hackathon!

Teams have 24 hours to design and build something awesome. It can be anything - a website, a mobile application, a video game, or even something hardware. The important thing is that it needs to work when it is presented to the judges.

Whether you are an avid programmer or a first-time hacker, UNIHACK welcomes everyone, regardless of skill level. You will have the opportunity to build, collaborate and learn from your fellow hackers and mentors at the event. The event will also have a number of tech talks throughout to help participants learn new or extend their existing skills.

Eligibility

1. Teams can have up to six people.

2. Each member of a team must be a student studying at an undergraduate, honours, or postgraduate course at an accredited university or TAFE college in Australia or New Zealand.

3. Teams cannot have remote participants.

4. Melbourne only: teams must have a minimum number of four people. Teams with two or three people will be asked to merge. The Organisers reserve the right to relax this restriction at their discretion.

 

Requirements

In addition to details about your project and how you built it, you must also provide the following:
  1. A list of all third-party material and APIs, including anything that was purchased.
  2. A link to your repository (as per Section 2.3 of the rules)
  3. Images and/or screenshots of your project

 

If you have created a web app, you are free to submit a link to a live working copy of your project with your submission. However, this is optional and not required.

 

You must also fill in the required fields with your DevPost submission to help us speed up the judging process. The information you provide will be used to create summary cards for the judges, allowing you to focus on the more important things during your pitch.

Video

You are encouraged to produce a video demonstration of your project. However, this is optional and not required.

This video must be a no-frills video - that is, no fancy graphics and animations - and does not exceed two minutes. We highly encourage you use your iPhone or Android smartphone to record the video.

We also strongly encourage you keep the video up after the event. This will help us for marketing and promotion of future UNIHACK competitions.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$19,950 in prizes

First Place

- $4000 in Cash
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition and Wolfram|Alpha Pro for each team member
- Anker Power Banks for each team member
- Razer Gaming Peripheral Kits for each team member

Second Place

- $2000 in Cash
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition and Wolfram|Alpha Pro for each team member
- Kaiser Baas Action Cams for each team member
- .melbourne Domain Prize Pack

Third Place

- $1000 in Cash
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition and Wolfram|Alpha Pro for each team member
- Chromecasts for each team member

Best Design

Adobe Creative Cloud Subscriptions for each team member

Most Creative

Wacom Intuos Small Tablets for each team member

Best Social Media

Instax 9 Camera + Film

Best Meme

TBA

Best Startup Potential (Sponsored by Wade Institute) (2)

A place in Wade Institute's upcoming Startup Sprint Bootcamp for each team member
Startup Sprint is the ultimate weekend to road test your entrepreneurial game! Get a taste for the fundamental steps of building a startup and meet your future cofounder.

#Beautiful (Sponsored by Xero)

JB Hi-Fi gift vouchers and Xero merch

Best IoT Hack (Sponsored by Bosch)

- 145-piece computer toolkits for each team member
- Bosch hardware pack for each team member

Open Source, Open Spirit (Sponsored by GitHub)

GitHub swag packs for each team member

#Community (Sponsored by Cognizant)

$100 Prepaid Visa Gift Card for each team member

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Olga Goloshchapova

Olga Goloshchapova
Lead Developer, REA Group

Jessica Abad Kelly

Jessica Abad Kelly
Strategy & Innovation Manager, Deloitte

Keith Swann

Keith Swann
Lead Product Manager, Origin Energy

Long Zheng

Long Zheng
Head of Product, Omny

Raanan Zion

Raanan Zion
Director of Platforms and Innovation, PwC

Michelle Mannering

Michelle Mannering
Community Lead, GitHub

Roddy McNeill

Roddy McNeill
Graduate Team Lead, Xero

May Chai

May Chai
Program Manager, Wade Institute

Tung Truong

Tung Truong
Senior UX Designer, Cognizant

Alan Koncar

Alan Koncar
Engineering and Business Development Manager, Bosch

Alfred Glickman

Alfred Glickman
Senior Full-stack Manager, Cognizant

Judging Criteria

  • Judging Process
    Judging takes place during the UNIHACK expo. The expo is where teams setup and demonstrate their hack, with judges visiting each team to listen to their pitch. Teams have 3 minutes to pitch and 1 minute to answer any questions the judges may ask.
  • Originality
    Is the hack more than just another generic social/mobile/web/IoT solution? Does it do something entirely novel, or at least take a fresh approach to an old problem?
  • Technical Difficulty
    Is the hack technically interesting or difficult? Is it just some lipstick on an API, or were there any technical challenges to surmount when building it?
  • Polish and Design
    Is the hack usable in its current state? Does it work as the creators say? Is the user experience smooth? Is it well designed for the target audience? Our judges will want to see and use your prototype - so make sure it works!
  • Usefulness
    Is it something people would actually use? Does it fulfil a real need that the community, the broader society or the target audience has? You do not need to prepare a business plan, but you should at least identify who is your target audience.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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