PennApps XII (Spring 2015) can be found at pennappsxii.devpost.com
Welcome to PennApps, the world's top college hackathon! We hope you're as excited as we are for an awesome weekend! After the Friday night kickoff, all teams are allowed to begin working on their apps. Once your app is complete, we ask that you produce a video demo of your app and post it on Youtube or Vimeo. You can then submit your app and accompanying video using the above Submissions tab (which will appear after you hit the Register button). All submissions must be in by 9 a.m. Sunday morning.
Eligibility
- Teams can have a maximum of 4 members (all members must be physically present at PennApps)
Requirements
- Platforms (iOS, Android, Web / Mobile Web, Mac, Windows, hardware hacks)
- Must include both submission and video demo
- Must select which sponsorship prizes you are going for
Prizes
$30,000 in prizes
Grand Prize
Venture for America 2nd round interview, and automatic entry to Greylock Hackfest.
Second Prize
Venture for America 2nd round interview, and automatic entry to Greylock Hackfest.
Third Prize
Venture for America 2nd round interview, and automatic entry to Greylock Hackfest.
Venmo Prize
The best hack as determined by our generous sponsor, Venmo.
Best Hack in Media / Entertainment
Presented by Comcast. Includes chance to demo hack to CEO, Comcast NBCU. Winning team will also be given a behind the scenes VIP Technical tour of broadcast operations at 30 Rock in NYC followed by 4 VIP tickets to the taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Best Hack That Makes Students' Lives Better
Presented by Chegg. Includes free semester of HW help.
Best Use of Firebase
(3)
Presented by Firebase. Winning team will receive an iPad mini and $1000 of Firebase credit. $500 and $250 to the runner ups
Best Hack People Will Use Every Day
Presented by 50onRed.
Best Cloud-Connected Application
Presented by Microsoft.
Best Use of Sky Drive
Presented by Microsoft. Winners receive Surface Pros.
Best Use of Windows Azure
Presented by Microsoft.
Best Hack With Originality, Bold Vision, And Synergy Between Two Sectors
Presented by KPCB Fellows.
Best iOS Hack
Presented by Apple. Winners receive 64GB iPad mini for each team member.
Best Use of Google Cloud Platform
Presented by Google. Winners receive 4 Nexus 7's
Most Creative Use of Google Prediction API
Presented by Google. Winners receive Nexus 4 phones for each team member.
Best Hack for Merchants
Presented by Clover
Best Use of SoundCloud
Trip to Berlin to meet the team and tour the HQ
Best Health IT Hack
Presented by Epic. Winners receive $500 per person on Newegg.com and interviews at Epic HQ in Madison, WI.
Best Mobile Hack
Presented by Yahoo. Includes trip to Yahoo NYC.
Best Use of Library Data
Presented by Van Pelt Library.
Best Use of a Data Set on a Mobile Device
Presented by BloomReach. Winners receive Leap Motions for the team.
Best Dwolla API Hack
Presented by Dwolla. Winners receive Raspberry Pi Starter Kits.
Best Use of APIs
Presented by VenturePact. Winners receive automatic entry into VenturePact incubator.
Best Mobile Hack
Presented by Ink. Winners receive 4 iPads.
Best Use of Ink
Presented by Ink. Winners receive trip to Ink offices.
Best Use of a Connected Data Model with a Graph Database
Presented by Neo Technology. Winners will receive a Romo interactive robot for each team member.
Best Hack That "Just Works"
Presented by Dropbox. 100GB Dropbox space and a Dropbox snuggie.
Best Facebook Integrated Hack
Presented by Facebook. Winners receive (4) backpacks, fb bears, and pebble watches.
Best Use of Speech Technologies
Presented by Nuance Communications. Winners receive Nuanced NDEV Gold level service for any number of apps for one year.
Best Use of Point.io Platform
Presented by Point.io. Winners receive Point.io Kegerator.
Best Use of SendGrid
Presented by SendGrid. Winners receive 2 Massive starterkits for SmartThings (Know and Control your home).
Best Use of Shop Your Way API
Presented by Shop Your Way.
Best Use of Twilio API
Presented by Twilio. Winners receive 3 Lego Mindstorms EV3 Robots.
Most Viral
Presented by AddThis. Winners receive $100 Amex card.
Most Data Driven
Presented by AddThis. Winners will receive an iPad 2.
Best Use of TokBox API
Presented by TokBox. Winners receive 3 solar powered chargers.
Best Use of MongoDB
Presented by MongoDB. Winners receive MongoDB swag.
Best Use of Mashery APIs
Presented by Mashery. Winner receives Ping Pong Pro Training Robot + Table Tennis Set + 1000 Ping Pong Balls.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
How to enter
- Make your app (any platform is accepted)
- Produce your video demo and post it on Youtube or Vimeo
- Submit your app and video
- Attend the product fair
- Wait for judgement announcements and final demos
Judges

Dave McClure
Founding Partner - 500 Startups

David Brussin
Founder & CEO - Monetate

Juliana Reyes
Lead Reporter - Technically Philly

Elliot Menschik
Adjunct Associate Professor - UPenn

Bob Moore
RJMetrics

James Smits
Founder - TigerLabs

Bob Moul
CEO - Artisan Mobile

Bert Navarrete
Founder - TigerLabs

Satwik Seshasal
CTO - NextDocs

David Friedman
CTO - RealFoodWorks

Mike Maher
Founder - Benjamins Desk

Jeffrey Babin
Engineering Entrepreneurship Professor - UPenn

Jim Young
Founder - Perpetual Networks

Stephanie Weirich
Associate Professor - UPenn

Nick Shiftan
CTO - Curalate

Rob Dimarco
CTO - eLocal USA

Ganesh Ramanarayanan
Engineer - Pure Storage

Jeff Fluhr
CEO and Co-Founder of Spreecast

Lindsay Lindstrom
Developer Evangelist for Microsoft

Aaron Roth
Judging Criteria
-
Originality
Is the hack more than just another generic social/mobile/local app? 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 real technical challenges to surmount? -
Polish
Is the hack usable in its current state? Is the user experience smooth? Does everything appear to work? Is it well designed? -
Usefulness
Is the hack practical? Is it something people would actually use? Does it fulfill a real need people have?
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