RU Hacks is a student-run organization of Ryerson University, located in the heart of downtown Toronto (virtual this year due to COVID-19). This year will be our fifth hackathon and we invite you to join us for a number of workshops, events, mentorship, and more. Meet new people, learn new skills and have fun while showcasing your talents! 

Hackers meet new people, learn new skills and have fun while showcasing their talents over the course of 48 hours of creativity and innovation this April 30th - May 2nd, 2021.

Eligibility

  • Only participants who have been accepted and confirmed their spots through the application portal on RU Hacks website are permitted to submit their projects through Devpost. All other project submissions are void.
  • We follow MLH Contest Rules as well as our own. As such, the contest is open to any individuals, with any single team consisting of one (1) to four (4) individuals. Individuals must be either current high-school or university students, as well as at least 14 years of age.

  • Cross-submissions of the same projects to different hackathons running simultaneously as RU Hacks are not permitted and will result in immediate disqualification from RU Hacks.

  • All code written must be your own and written before project submissions ends. All code and supplementary materials MUST not have been designed ahead of the hackathon period.
    Project submissions end Sunday (May 2nd) at 7:00 PM EDT

Requirements

Project Submission is due at 7:00 PM EDT May 2nd, 2021. 

Make sure that your devpost submission has the following:

  • A video (5 minutes max) that showcases your application

  • A link to your github repo (must be public)

  • A complete devpost description

Refer to the hackathon guide for detailed information!

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$CAD63,228 in prizes

First (1st) Place

The first place prize is given to the best project chosen by the judges, between all registered participants. The prize is an iPad Pro for each member of the winning team.

In addition, Winners will be awarded with tickets to Pinnacle (https://pinnacle.us.org/) and each member will be given $1000 worth of bubble credit for 6 months and a 1 year maplesoft license.

Second (2nd) Place

The second place prize is given to the second best project chosen by the judges, between all registered participants. The prize is a Nintendo Switch for each member of the winning team.

Third (3rd) Place

The second place prize is given to the third best project chosen by the judges, between all registered participants. The prize is a Seagate One Touch 4TB External Hard Drive for each member of the winning team.

Best Discord Bot

Create a Discord bot that is creative, practical and beneficial to those using Discord. You can create a Discord bot as your hack or the bot can be an extension of your hack. The prize is a Mini Fridge for each member of the winning team.

Best Education Hack

Create a hack that is helpful to the virtual learning of students (all or any level(s) of students). With the new way of learning, your hack can be the next resourceful tool to aid in the virtual academic life of students. The prize is a Blue Yeti microphone set w/ adjustable microphone suspension arm for each member of the winning team.

Best UI/UX

This prize will go to the hack that is deemed to have the best use of visual design principles and their consideration for user experience. The prize is a Desk Mat for each member of the winning team.

Best Hardware Hack

Create a hack that uses hardware! To make this hack fair, a qualifying hack would be one where the project interacts with hardware (with the exception of a keyboard and mouse).
Be sure to mention how much your hardware hack would cost if someone with no equipment wanted to build it.
The prize is a Portable Monitor for each member of the winning team.

iBoost - Big Tech Ideas with Big Impact

Create a hack that has the potential to change our society. From the day to day to how overall society is run, we're looking for technology ideas that have a deep impact on our lives. Participants will look to create the foundations of their idea and its feasibility - don't just build it, prove it! The winning team will have the opportunity to take their project to the next step and be invited to the iBoost startup incubator! This hack emphasizes problem identification and solutions.

DCL - Best Use/Application of the DCP API (2)

What would you build with a distributed supercomputer at your fingertips?
Create a hack that will develop the best use or application of the DCP API. The first place team will be rewarded a $750 cash prize, and the second place team will be rewarded a $250 cash prize. Both winning teams will also be rewarded with a virtual coffee chat with the CEO of Distributed Compute Labs, Dan Desjardans.
Additionally, both winning teams will receive mentorship to continue the project along with DCP credits and front of line access to the First Developers program.

All participants of this challenge will receive a virtual badge indicating that you are DCP certified!

Best Use of Google Cloud - Use Any Google Cloud Product (3)

Prize category description - Best Use of Google Cloud
- Use any Google Cloud product in your project (Firebase counts!)
- Each member of the winning team receives one of the below
1st Place Prize
- Google Cloud branded backpack
2nd place and/or special recognition prizes
Google Cloud Prize Bundles
- Google Pillow (Blue and White)
- Google Cloud beanie
- Google Cloud socks
- Google Cloud journal
- Google Cloud lanyards (five count)

*NA Shipping Only

Best Use of Qoom Challenge (2)

Build the best web app using the Qoom platform!
Qoom is picking a team to be invited to Qoom Creator Group and will get to be featured on the Qoom Project Gallery. Each winning team member also gets a 1 year subscription to their platform!

Wolfram Alpha (25)

For the top 20 teams, Wolfram Alpha is given an award letter that includes a 1 year subscription to the Wolfram|One Personal Edition plus a one-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro.

1Password (3)

1Password is give a 6 months free token to each member of the top 3 winning teams.

The Codex (5)

The Codex is offering a 1 year subscription to their platform to each member of the top 5 teams!

Best use of echoAR

Build the best AR/VR application using the echoAR platform! Winners will receive a $50 Amazon git card, 1-month free Business Tier access to echoAR and a feature in echoAR's newsletter sent to investors and the AR/VR echosystem!

Best Domain Registered with 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 & Domain.com Backpack.

Best Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key (2)

Using your preferred hardware or hardware emulator, build a hack for your chance to win a Grove Beginner Kit, with an embedded Arduino compatible board. 1 prize for each winning team member with 2 winning teams per event!

Best use of DataStax Astra

Apache Cassandra is one of the most widely used database technologies in modern computing with a proven track record of scalability. Just ask Apple, Netflix and eBay. Build a hack using DataStax Astra’s Cassandra-made-easy service and gain in-demand skills along with a chance to win Blue Snowball Microphones for you and your whole team. It’s easy to sign up with 5GB free and no credit card needed. Start becoming a Cassandra expert today!

RU Hacks Swag Bag (25)

An array of fun items provided by the RU Hacks team! Will be awarded to the top 25 teams. (NA shipping only)

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Dan Desjardins

Dan Desjardins
CEO of Kings Distributed Systems, Executive Director of Distributed Compute Labs

Kiae Seong

Kiae Seong
Head of Product/Qoom

Jared Lera

Jared Lera
CTO/Qoom

Brent Charbonneau

Brent Charbonneau
CTO/Juno College

Tiff Nogueira Haxell

Tiff Nogueira Haxell
Director of Product/Juno College

Ivan Cheung
Google Cloud

Jay Shi

Jay Shi
Google Cloud

Mehdi Dahmani

Mehdi Dahmani
Google Cloud

Raymond Ji

Raymond Ji
Google Cloud

Ronak Patel

Ronak Patel
Google Cloud

Lakhvir Dhaliwal

Lakhvir Dhaliwal
Product Development Engineer @ NVIDIA

Karine Rashkovsky

Karine Rashkovsky
Director of Brainpower

Giuseppe Grossi

Giuseppe Grossi
Graduate Student at Ryerson University

Grace Ma

Grace Ma
Product Designer at Friendly Studio

Jeff Peng

Jeff Peng
Start-up Services Manager, iBoost Zone

Jacklyn Biggin

Jacklyn Biggin
MLH Coach / Senior Dev at RBC

Selynna Sun

Selynna Sun
Software Engineer, Twitter

Binh Nguyen

Binh Nguyen
PhD student at Ryerson University

Yashar Hoang

Yashar Hoang
Founder & Creative Director, YDZ Creative Group

Krish Munot

Krish Munot
Product Manager at Freight Tiger

Adam Chaboryk

Adam Chaboryk
IT Accessibility Specialist, Ryerson University

Evangeline Ng
Product Designer at Sembly

Anshul Pardhi

Anshul Pardhi
CS Graduate Student, The University of Texas at Dallas

Sahar Mor

Sahar Mor
Founder, AirPaper

Shrey Rathi

Shrey Rathi
Incoming Program Manager @ Microsoft

Ami Patel

Ami Patel
Incoming Product Manager at Microsoft

Gurkirat Singh
Senior developer @ RBC

Andy Tran

Andy Tran
Data Product Manager, Senso.ai

echoAR

Brian Lozano
Google Cloud

Judging Criteria

  • MVP Minimum Viable Product
    Your minimum viable product, how much of the project were you able to complete and do you have a working demo?
  • Uniqueness
    How unique is your idea, has it been done before? What did you innovate/add to make this new?
  • Problem Solving
    Does your hack solve a problem?
  • Design
    How appealing does your application look?
  • Presentation
    Marked on video and devpost description.
  • Accessibility
    What did you do to make your application accessible?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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