Best Hack for Social Good

Nintendo Switch for each member of the winning team

Best Beginner Hack

Smart TV for each member of the winning team.

Every team member must be a beginner in order to qualify.

Most Creative Hack

Lego Sets for each member of the winning team.

Projects must be unique and original, and showcase creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.

Most Technically Challenging Hack

Drones for each member of the winning team.

Projects must showcase breadth and application of technical knowledge.

Best Interdisciplinary Hack sponsored by the College of L&S

AirPods for each member of the winning team.

At least one member of the team needs to be a non-CS/CSE/otherwise CS-related major in order to qualify. More specifically, we are looking for teams that leverage multiple perspectives of different disciplines to create a more well-rounded project.

Best AggieData Hack sponsored by DataLab

Winners will have their visualization printed and displayed in the DataLab in Shields Library, be invited to a DataLab luncheon, and invited to participate in DataLab’s internship program.

Projects must use at least one publicly accessible dataset that is focused on UC Davis to address questions of interest to our campus community. For consideration for this award, the team must produce a GitHub repository with a readME, annotated code, and a reproducible static data visualization. The visualization should have an accompanying 1-page narrative describing the goals, methods, and interpretation of the project.

Best Design

Drawing Tablet for each member of the winning team.

No code required!

Best Hardware Hack

Mechanical Keyboard for each member of the winning team.

Projects must include a hardware component.

Best UC Davis Hack sponsored by UC Davis Stores

UC Davis Swag Bag for each member of the winning team.

Projects must be focused on UC Davis to address questions and issues of interest to our campus community.

Best Campus Living Hack sponsored by Student Housing

AggieCash + Swag for each member of the winning team.

Projects must tackle aspects of campus living in the residence halls and/or dining commons.

Best Athletics Hack sponsored by UC Davis Athletics

UC Davis Adidas gear for each member of the winning team. The team will also be spotlighted at a football game this fall with a videoboard and on-field recognition.

Projects must provide an avenue for Aggies to access sport schedules, tickets, giveaways, and in-game activities at athletics events, as well as aim to reward students who show their school spirit by attending games.

Best Use of Twilio API

Webcams for each member of the winning team

Projects must use Twilio API.

Best Social Impact Hack sponsored by CITRIS

Wireless Headphones / Bluetooth Speakers for each member of the winning team

Projects must tackle one of the following aspects:

- Food Sustainability and Equitable Access
- Climate Resilience
- Student Mental Health & Well-Being
- Insuring Data and News Integrity

Best Pantry Hack

Swag Bag and Snack Baskets for each member of the winning team

The ASUCD Pantry provides UC Davis students, staff, and faculty with free groceries, but there are many other ways to receive basic needs support whether it’s through community organizations or government-provided services. With so many options it can be challenging for an individual to be informed about what services are available and how to obtain them. What are some better ways to organize this information and get it out to the community?

Best CoolDavis Hack

Hydroflasks for each member of the winning team

Cool Davis has no way currently to encourage local community members to engage with sustainability actions from our Cool Solutions webpage on a super convenient platform that allows them to choose, track, and interact. The Cool California Calculator is an action tracking platform we could share with our community, but it does not allow us to make any changes to the actions and it does not allow us to connect with the users who participate. The Community Climate Solutions program is also a great model but is not free. Community needs are constantly changing and Cool Davis programs must be dynamic and responsive to make a difference. How can all of this be combined into a usable mobile app that can be used by the community?

Best Greenhouse Hack

Amazon Kindles for each member of the winning team

The GreenHouse has a library for reading with books for 1st - 12th graders. All readers are assessed for reading levels 2-3 times a year and there are some books matched to their reading level. But the majority of the library is not evaluated for reading levels by book. How can a system to analyze books and categorize them by reading level be created?

Best Yolo Food Bank Hack

Snack baskets for each member of the winning team

With the large volume of food that the Yolo Food Bank receives, sorting them out and finding their nutritional information can be a long and tedious process. How can this be made more simple for the Yolo Food Bank?

Best Use of Auth0 (MLH)

Auth0 wants your applications to be secure! Use any of the Auth0 APIs for a chance to win some exclusive swag, including a Miir 12oz tumbler, Rubik's Cube, and sticker! Why spend hours building features like social sign-in, Multi-Factor Authentication, and passwordless log-in when you can enable them through Auth0 straight out of the box? Save some time on your hack and set yourself up for a big win. It doesn’t take much to get started. Auth0 is free to try with up to 7,000 free active users and unlimited log-ins. Make your new account today!

Best Use of DeSo (MLH)

DeSo is the official Web3 sponsor of the MLH Hackathon League and the first Layer 1 blockchain custom-built for decentralized social media applications. While blockchains like Avalanche or Solana cost $0.50+ to store just a 200-character post, the DeSo blockchain is built with custom indexing and storage optimizations which make it 10,000X cheaper to store social content on-chain! In order to qualify for the contest, you must launch an app that writes to the DeSo blockchain and/or implements DeSo identity. While social media apps are a great fit for DeSo, you can also build financial apps, marketplaces, and more on the DeSo blockchain. For inspiration on project ideas, you can check out some of the existing 200+ apps already live on DeSo at Bithunt.com as well as our DeSo APIs. The Best Use of DeSo gets $100 worth of $DESO coin & an exclusive DeSo branded tumbler!

Best Domain Name from Domain.com (MLH)

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.

Most Creative Use of GitHub (MLH)

GitHub is one of the best ways to collaborate, push code, get feedback, and show the world what you’ve built during a hackathon. To take it a step further, GitHub is now offering you access to industry tools, events & learning resources through something called GitHub Global Campus. Win this weekend’s Best Use of GitHub prize category, first by signing up for GitHub Global Campus and second by using a GitHub repository to host your hackathon project’s code! Make sure your use of GitHub stands out with a detailed ReadMe page, meaningful pull requests and collaboration history, and even a GitHub pages deployment!

Best Use of Google Cloud (MLH)

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.

Most Creative Use of Twilio (MLH)

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!