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 4:00pm CDT on April 9th, and projects must be submitted here on DevPost by 10:30am CDT on April 11th.

Create anything related to entertainment that you can think of; Gaming, Music, and Media are all free game! The most important part of the weekend is to have fun. Make something you'd enjoy, and try to push the boundaries of what's already been created!

Prizes are given to the top two submissions in each category, along with a few special prizes given separately.

If you haven't already, check out our website!

Eligibility

All students and people one year out of graduation.

Requirements

If you have any questions about submitting to DevPost, don't be afraid to ask one of the organisers in the 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.
If you are competing for best beginner hack, best women's hack, and/or best high school hack, make sure to clarify that in your project description!
- Note: For Best Beginner Hack and Best High School Hack, your team must be majority beginner or high school; this does not include a 50% split.
- Note: For Best Women's Hack, a 50% split is eligible
Also, make sure to specify which company-specific prizes you are competing for.
Finally, specify which entertainment track(s) your project focuses on (detailed later).

Video Submission Requirements:

Videos need to be maximum of 5 minutes in length.
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.

Project Track Clarification

This year, we have three subcategories of entertainment: Gaming, Music, and Media. For your project, you can submit to as many of them as you would like, but can only win a prize in one area. Here are descriptions for each:

Gaming

For submitting to the gaming track, focus on finding an idea that could have a positive impact on the industry as a whole. Whether that be by solving a problem that has plagued gamers or the developers of games themselves, creating a new and inventive mechanic that could open up an entirely new genre of games, or designing a system that could transform the entire scene itself, the choice is yours.

Music

A project that falls under the music track should focus on solving a problem currently faced in the music industry. This could address the needs that artists, producers, or others in the field may have. As before, the prompt is intentionally open-ended so that you can have the greatest flexibility in coming up with ideas.

Media

By definition, media is the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the internet) regarded collectively. In practice, the project would involve or focus on movies, television, newspapers, radio, printed matter, Internet information or advertising. And similar to the previous categories, try to create something that would push the boundaries of the scene, and would bring something new and exciting to the table.

Here are a couple of tips below to make sure you record the best video possible!

Video Submission Topic Suggestions:

What’s the name of your hack?
What does your hack do?
What area of entertainment 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?

Having trouble thinking of what should go into your demo video or write-up? Check out this example post which has a lot of good information about making a great submission!

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$18,260 in prizes

1st Place - Media Track

11-inch iPad Pro w/ Wifi, 1st Generation (64GB) x4

Runner Up - Media Track

Sonos Beam (Soundbar) x4
$100 Netflix Gift Card x4

1st Place - Gaming Track

Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC Monitor - Black x4
Corsair K70 Mechanical RGB keyboard w/ Cherry MX Speed x4
$50 Steam Gift Card x4

Runner Up - Gaming Track

Corsair K70 Mechanical RGB keyboard w/ Cherry MX Speed x4
Logitech - G PRO Wireless Mouse with RGB lighting x4
Astro Gaming - A10 Wired Stereo Headset Black/Red x4
SteelSeries - QcK Edge Cloth Mouse Pad x4
$100 Steam Gift Card x4

1st Place - Music Track

JBL Boombox x4
Sony WH-1000XM3 Over-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones x4

Runner Up - Music Track

YetiCaster Bundle (Microphone) x4
Powerbeats Pro x4
$60 Spotify Gift Card x4

Best Beginner Hack

Oculus Go x4

Best Women's Hack (2)

HP Sprocket 200 Printer x2

Best High School Hack

Bose SoundSport Wireless Headphones x4

Farming Simulation Game

Criteria: Today’s farmers have access to unprecedented amounts of data, enabling smarter decision-making in the field. Hundreds of data points collected every second over each operation can be analyzed to optimize yield, precisely apply nutrients, and save time and resources each season. Our challenge is to build an agricultural simulation game. The base game should include the four basic agricultural operations (tillage, seeding, application, and harvest) and may take things like weather, soil, or other factors that could impact a farmer’s yield into account. Lemonade Stand is an example of a classic game that captures the spirit of this challenge.

Prize: $50 Visa giftcard x4

Panera's Freshest Idea

This will be awarded to the team that has the best hack involving food or nutrition.

Prize: $100 Panera giftcard x4

Most Fun Hack

This award will be given to the team that has the most fun hack

Prize: Uboom Speakers

Best Domain Registered with Domain.com

Prize: PowerSquare Qi Wireless Phone Charger & Domain.com Backpack for each team member

Best Google Cloud Hack

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.

Prize: 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 Hardware Hack (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.

Prize: Grove Beginner Kit with an embedded Arduino compatible board for each team member. Two winning teams on this one!

Best DataStax Astra Hack

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. It’s easy to sign up with 5GB free and no credit card needed. Start becoming a Cassandra expert today!

Prize: Blue Snowball Microphones for each team member

Judges

Brian Tiefenbruck
Centene

Devin Cargill
CrowdStrike

Jason Barnes
CrowdStrike

Balaji Mudduluri
Equifax

Vijay Srinivasa
Equifax

Kristian Dehaan
Honeywell FM&T

Ethan Arneson
JB Hunt

Jaryd Krishnan
John Deere

Leah Haugh
John Deere

Annette Banks
Mastercard

Kevin Lyons
Mastercard

Subhashis Chatterjee
Nestle IT

Patrick Flor
Platter

Benjamin Nelson
Veteran's United

Andy Couto
Panera Bread

Billy Meyers
Panera Bread

Sree Praveen Madduru
Centene

Alexander Adam
Centene

Hareesh Subramanian
Nestle IT

Adam Shuayto
Centene

Vernon Adamson
Panera Bread

Mike Williams
Software Design Partners

Kristen Arora
DRS Land Systems

Stephanie Stark
Panera Bread

Joseph Nickrent
NISC

Krish Munot

Nikita Vasilev

Veronika Golubeva

Kathleen Ericson

Vitalii Honcharuk

Christina Bateman

Chris Humphreys

Judging Criteria

Technical Ability
Hackers challenged themselves to learn some new technology
Creativity
The project is a new idea or approaches an issue in a new or exciting way.
Functionality
The project accomplishes what is outlined in the Devpost and contains only minimal bugs. The project could be expanded in the future.
Impact
Project has a clearly defined and relevant impact to its intended audience and solves the problem it is addressing