***IMPORTANT: You must attend the welcoming ceremony at 3:30 Today (Friday, April 23rd) to be considered for a submission and to be eligible for the raffle! If you miss the ceremony and still want to submit a project, please contact an organizer on discord!" ***
*** Discord Link: https://discord.gg/Zb4FPZrs ***
CivHacks is a virtual hackathon hosted by the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), the officially recognized student association at the University of California, Berkeley taking place on the weekend of April 23-25, 2021. In the span of 48 hours, CivHacks gives our participants the opportunity to create new applications, websites, or software projects.
Our focus is on providing a welcoming, engaging, and creative environment to support social good in tech culture. Attendees will form teams to help tackle issues affecting sustainability, civics, student success, and other societal issues. We pride ourselves in helping both beginners and experienced hackers explore technology and develop their skills—with a conscience.
We have 5 different tracks that students will build solutions for: Beginner, Civics, Student Success, Health, Sustainability, all of whose descriptions you can see on our website: civhacks.com
Our tentative schedule, detail on prizes, speakers, judges, and more can be found on our (very detailed) Notion page!
If you are a student, please register for the event here!
Follow our social media!
Instagram: @civhacks or instagram.com/civhacks/
Facebook: facebook.com/civhacks2021
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at optech@asuc.org!
Eligibility
- CivHacks is open to all U̶C̶ ̶B̶e̶r̶k̶e̶l̶e̶y̶ college students (undergrad/grad/etc).
- Beginner teams: >50% team members must be first-time attendees (CivHacks would be their first hackathon).
Requirements
Proposed tangible deliverables for all tracks include but are not limited to:
- A mobile app, a web app, a design prototype/wireframe, a CAD model, a game, an ML prediction model, or even a realistic drawing/sketch of your solution. Your end-product will be dependent on the type of project you are tackling and the type of solution you want to create!
You will be able to demo/explain your deliverable through:
- A detailed description of the project
- A <5 minute video, explaining the problem and presenting your solution
- A GitHub link to any code written (if applicable)
Prizes
$13,400 in prizes
Best Beginner Hack
- $250 for the winning team towards gift cards of your choice
- $50 to charity/research institution of your choice
- $100 in credits to Digital Ocean for each team member
Best Civics Hack
- $500 for the winning team
--> 75% towards gift cards of your choice
--> 25% towards TBD
- $100 to charity/research institution of your choice
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition
- One-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
- $100 in credits to Digital Ocean for each team member
Best Health Hack
- $500 for the winning team
--> 75% towards gift cards of your choice
--> 25% towards TBD
- $100 to charity/research institution of your choice
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition
- One-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
- $100 in credits to Digital Ocean for each team member
Best Sustainability Hack
- $500 for the winning team
--> 75% towards gift cards of your choice
--> 25% towards TBD
- $100 to charity/research institution of your choice
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition
- One-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
- $100 in credits to Digital Ocean for each team member
Best Student Success Hack
- $500 for the winning team
--> 75% towards gift cards of your choice
--> 25% towards TBD
- $100 to charity/research institution of your choice
- One year of Wolfram|One Personal Edition
- One-year subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Pro
- $100 in credits to Digital Ocean for each team member
Best OCTO Student Life Hack
- Patagonia backpacks for the winning team!
Best EchoAR Hack
- $50 Amazon gift card for the winning team
- 3-month free Business Tier access per team member
- Selected projects will be featured on EchoAR's "Inspiration" Page!
Best Beginner Hack using IPFS, Filecoin or libp2p
- $1000 in FIL (Filecoin) from Protocol Labs!
Best Civics Hack using IPFS, Filecoin or libp2p
- $1000 in FIL (Filecoin) from Protocol Labs!
Best Health Hack using IPFS, Filecoin or libp2p
- $1000 in FIL (Filecoin) from Protocol Labs!
Best Sustainability Hack using IPFS, Filecoin or libp2p
- $1000 in FIL (Filecoin) from Protocol Labs!
Best Student Success Hack using IPFS, Filecoin or libp2p
- $1000 in FIL (Filecoin) from Protocol Labs!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges

Isabel Song, Ph.D
Asst. Professor, San Francisco State University; Vice President, Samsung Mobile

Ling Kung, MBA
Director, Innovation Consultation and Emerging Technology, Kaiser Permanente

Sheila Baxter Lamb, MPH
Chief of Staff, Kaiser Permanente Digital

Carla Mays, MPA
Co-Founder and Head of Global Research, #SmartCohort

David
#SmartCohort

Grace Luo
CTO, ASUC Office of the CTO
ASUC OCTO
UC Berkeley

Charron Andrus, MA
Associate CISO, UC Berkeley

Scott Seaborn, MA
Campus Privacy Officer, UC Berkeley

Dietrich Ayala
Protocol Labs

Mikhail Holst
Program Director, CITRIS Foundry
Kira Gardner
Program Director, CITRIS Foundry

Chelsea Vargas, MPA
Organizational Storytelling Coordinator, Earth Hacks Foundation

Jake Holweger
Deputy Director, Earth Hacks Foundation

Mansi Seth
Deputy Director, ASUC Vote Coalition

Seong Min Choo
ASUC OCTO

Anik Gupta
ASUC OCTO

Koren Grinshpoon
Founder & COO, echoAR

Eric Cheng
Judging Criteria
-
Problem Statement & Analysis
Is the problem specific, relevant, and does it address an important societal issue? Are stakeholders identified? How interesting or difficult is the problem being challenged? Is there a clear motivation for solving this problem? -
Solution Design & Viability
Is the solution creative and novel? Does it approach a new problem or an old problem in a new way? Is the solution responsible and ethical? Does it consider policy or other factors that might affect its implementation? -
Solution Implementation
Does the prototype/solution function well, or is it immediately actionable? Is the implementation developed with the engineering/design process in mind?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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