Contest

iPhoneDevCamp Hackathon, the Hackathon Show, and Rules

As we gear up for iPhoneDevCamp 3 this summer, we want to repeat the success of previous years’ Hackathon where many were presented during the Hackathon Show, some created by teams that had never met each other before the conference started.

To do this, we want to reward those who represent the following values:

  • Contribution: by assisting the commons, offering value, and in general by being useful.
  • Sharing: by offering help, sharing code or expertise, or by assistance in testing or debugging.
  • Openness: by asking good questions, by answering them, by being open to people and ideas, and by making source code available.
  • And of course, by demonstrating a “Can Do” attitude.

Like last year, iPhoneDevCamp staff will be handing out “tickets” when we see participants demonstrating these values. Then on Sunday, each team that participates by presenting during the Hackathon Show will also receive a ticket. These tickets will be used by raffle for many of the General Prizes — the more tickets you have, the more likely you’ll receive a General Prize.

Schedule

  • Friday night — During the party is a good time to start sharing your ideas, choose your project, and begin to find your team.
  • Saturday morning — After the keynote, we will have a session where people can have an opportunity to recruit others to help with their projects. Last year everyone was valued, even those without significant programming skills, as almost every team needed design and testing help. Several teams last year won a prizes without any prior iPhone coding experience, and one team won a prize that didn’t even have a coder!
  • Saturday afternoon though Sunday mid-day — Find something undocumented and share it! Show us how you made something work! Create a cool demo of a feature we didn’t know about! It doesn’t have to be perfect, just enough to be able to share it! If you haven’t started a project or found a team, find one of the iPhoneDevCamp staff and we’ll help you find some people who need you.
  • Sunday 1pm Entry Deadline — all entries for the Hackathon Show should be submitted to the Hackathon web site at http://developer.yahoo.com/hacku/register . If there are more submissions then what we have time to demonstrate, submissions that offer source code will be given first priority, then submissions that the moderators think are “cool”. While you are waiting, help us rearrange the lunch room for the Show.
  • Sunday 1:45pm Satellite Entry Deadline — Each satellite iPhoneDevCamp should have one or two iPhone Apps selected from their attendees to submit to the Hackathon Show before 1:45pm PDT.
  • Sunday 2pm The Hackathon Show — The Hackathon Show will begin in the lunch room. Demos should be around 3 minutes, so practice your presentation before you get to the podium. We will have two overhead projectors set up so that we can transition from demo to demo quickly. You can also use a Mac with the iPhone Simulator to demonstrate your App. Demos from iPhoneDevCamp satellites should be an ~3 minute video file.
  • Sunday 4:30pm Break — The Hackathon Show moderators will take a break to consult with the other iPhoneDevCamp staff, and select the winners of the Special Awards. Winners are at the sole discretion of the iPhoneDevCamp staff.
  • Sunday 5:00pm Special Awards — The more valuable prizes given to us by our Sponsors will be given out for each of the Special Award categories. Each Special Award Sponsor will have the opportunity to say some words and personally give the reward to the winner if they are present. At their discretion, the iPhoneDevCamp staff may also allow some others who did not demo the opportunity to get a chance to win a Special Award if they demonstrated values of sharing, participation, and “can do” attitude during the iPhoneDevCamp, as Joe Hewitt won the first year for iUI.
  • Sunday 5:30pm General Prizes — Some of the more desirable General Prizes will be given out by random draw to those who participated in the Hackathon. Any remaining General Prizes will be given out to those holding the most tickets.
  • Sunday 6:00pm End of the Hackathon! — Source code and demos will be released to the public that evening!

General Prize Eligibility

  • Everyone is eligible for the General Prizes — you just have to earn a ticket.

Special Awards Eligibility

  • First, to be eligible for a Special Award, the iPhone App must not currently be available via the iTunes App Store OR if it is available, you must have source code available on a public website. iPhone Web Apps are always eligible. In addition, please do not submit iPhone OS 3.1 or Jailbroken apps for the Hackathon.
  • Next you must sign up for the Hackathon Show by 1pm on Sunday, or have your App submitted by a Satellite iPhoneDevCamp by 1:45pm PDT.
  • You must have demonstrated your iPhone App or Web App during the Hackathon Show (or have have your App submitted by a satellite iPhoneDevCamp to the Hackathon Show). Remember, if there are too many submissions, the Hackathon moderators may have to make a judgment call as to what Apps will make the cut to be demonstrated. If you don’t make the cut, you can’t win a Special Award, but you are still eligible for General Awards.
  • The staff of iPhoneDevCamp are not eligible for any of the Special Awards.

Special Awards Criteria

  • There will be a number of categories of Special Awards, each will have different requirements as set by the Special Award Sponsor.
  • In general, Apps in most categories will be judged on not only on their function, but also if they are fun & cool.
  • We also value Apps with simplicity and elegance.
  • We will give priority to Apps that were developed during iPhoneDevCamp.
  • We also give priority to Apps that offer source code under an open source license, however, this is NOT a requirement to win.
  • iPhone Apps or Web Apps do not have to be “finished” to win — we would rather you demonstrate what your App can do well, rather then worry about what may be not complete.

Special award categories and prizes

  • Best Open Source
  • Coolest
  • Most Useful
  • Best Developer Tool / Helper
  • Most Educational
  • Best Social App
  • Best Game
  • Best Web App
  • Best New Developer
  • Best Student App
  • Best App Submitted by an iPhoneDevCamp Satellite
  • Highest Potential Startup Idea (2 winners, lunch+pitch with the Kleiner Perkins iFund and an iPod touch from KPCB – iFund)
  • Best Use of Push Notifications (iPod touch plus additional giveaway from iLime)
  • Best Health App (iPod touch from Polka)
  • Best Money Making Application (iPod touch plus additional giveaways from Mobclix)
  • Ironcoder

“Ironcoder” is where teams are given the API and any assets on Friday night, and have until Sunday at 2pm to come up with the best thing. Judging is based upon creativity, resourcefulness, and productivity. API and assets will be named on site.