Until now, you needed to be a coder to participate in a hackathon. Not anymore.
Code, Carve, Sing, Dance, Write
At Z HACKS, your project entry can be code, OR any form of ART: a dance, a song, a poem, artwork, a short story, a sculpture, just about anything. Why? Because you care about inclusivity.
Why Z?
Z is for Gen Z. Z is for Zentrepreneur. Z is for Zeitgeist. You are "Z" change needed in the World.
Categories
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Social Justice
- From wealth to education, housing to homeless, your project will increase the awareness of disparities for underserved communities. How do we address police brutality? Democracy? Affordable housing?
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Environment
- Our oceans are polluted with plastics, our air unbreathable, our drinking water has lead, our housing is not energy efficient. How can we inspire and help entire communities to reduce our emissions? Reuse? Recycle?
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Pandemic
- COVID 19 is not our first health crisis, nor our last. How do we help those at high risk? How do we create vibrant supply chains, fast vaccine testing, better PPE designs, better signage and solutions for restaurants, stores, etc. How do we help small businesses and performers stay afloat during Shelter-in-Place?
Award Distribution
Donations are for the organizations listed below (Become a Sponsor). As indicated in the Prizes, cash stipends go to Winners to fund their next brilliant project. The following non-profits are donation designees:
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Oakland Black Business Fund (OBBF) is a Black-led investment platform, providing capital, technical assistance, and growth strategy to Black-owned businesses. The nonprofit relief & recovery fund deploys recovery grants and technical assistance to stabilize Oakland businesses and prepare them to receive capital investments to grow their businesses.
- Funds Raised: 9/11/20: $150,628
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Equal Access Santa Cruz County - the Equal Access Santa Cruz County Fund has a simple goal: bridge the digital divide and bring true high-speed broadband to every family in the Santa Cruz community, regardless of income level. This project is spearheaded by Cruzio Internet, working with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, Pajaro Valley School District, and other local organizations.
- Funds Raised (9/11/2020): $50,500
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Digital NEST - a youth workforce development and empowerment center located in Watsonville and Salinas, CA, has moved all of their in-person classroom curricula online and has found new ways to support a community in need.
- Funds Raised (9/11/20): $65,000
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Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay - addresses affordable homeownership in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. In our coastal region, there is a growing gap between house prices and what the local workforce can afford. One in three households spends more than 50% of their income on housing.
- Funds Raised: not reported to Z Hacks
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
- Participants: this event is open to anyone anywhere who attended school in 2019, or will attend in 2020-21. Schools can include public, private, online, full time or part time. Physical prizes to US only. Coders and Artists are welcome. A Participant does not need to be on a Team. Anyone younger than 16 will be required to submit the Parental Consent Agreement. Attend a Clinic (see Resources) to get an extra point towards your final score!
- Teams: a Team must include at least 1 Participant. Teams should not be larger than 6 persons.
- Mentors: a Mentor can be of any age, and does not need to be in school. The purpose of a Mentor is to help others. Mentors must list "Mentor" in their skill set.
- Sponsors - would you like to support this event? Click on this Become a Sponsor
Ask Us Anything
Got questions? Click on this: Ask Us. Or, use the Slack channel, or Register to join us via Zoom to Ask Us Anything on the following dates:
- September 15 3:30pm PT: Register to Attend
- September 17 at 12:30pm PT: Register to Attend
And check out one of the videos by Jordan Corey who will judge song projects. She wrote this song, Google bought it: SHAKE
Eligibility
- Participants: this event is open to anyone who attended school in 2019, or will attend in 2020-21. Schools can include public, private, online, full time or part time. Physical prizes to US only. Coders and Artists are welcome. A Participant does not need to be on a Team. Anyone younger than 16 will be required to submit the Parental Consent Agreement.
- Teams: a Team must include at least 1 Participant. Teams should not be larger than 6 persons.
- Mentors: a Mentor can be of any age, and does not need to be in school. The purpose of a Mentor is to help others. Mentors must list "Mentor" in their skill set.
As per our Code of Conduct, there is no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, social class, economic status, veteran status, disability, or age.
Requirements
Participants need to write code or create art that helps solve one of the many challenges we face: social justice, environment, or pandemics. Submit a 3-5 minute video presentation of the final project. Project must be started and finished during the event: 5 days. Finalists will participate in a 15 minute Zoom video conference with the judges for their category. More detailed instructions in Rules.
Prizes
$34,700 in prizes
Social Justice - 1st Place
- $5,000 to non-profit
- $500 to winning person/team
Social Justice - 2nd Place
- $2,500 to non-profit
- $250 to winning person/team
Social Justice - 3rd Place
- $1,000 to non-profit
- $100 to winning person/team
Environment - 1st Place
- $5,000 to non-profit
- $500 to winning person/team
Environment - 2nd Place
- $2,500 to non-profit
- $250 to winning person/team
Environment - 3rd Place
- $1,000 to non-profit
- $100 to winning person/team
Pandemic - 1st Place
- $5,000 to non-profit
- $500 to winning person/team
Pandemic - 2nd Place
- $2,500 to non-profit
- $250 to winning person/team
Pandemic - 3rd Place
- $1,000 to non-profit
- $100 to winning person/team
Think Care Act - 1st Place
- $5,000 to Head Heart Hands
- $500 to winning person/team
Think Care Act - 2nd Place
- $2,500 to Head Heart Hands
- $250 to winning person/team
Think Care Act - 3rd Place
- $1,000 to Head Heart Hands
- $100 to winning person/team
Contrast Community
(4)
$50 Amazon gift card to the first 4 teams using Contrast Community Edition to find at least one vulnerability in their Java or .NET Core web application: https://bit.ly/2XVB4yG
GetVirtual
GetVirtual will give 1 team $500 for a project that helps a community business during the pandemic. https://www.getvirtual.org/
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges

Toby Corey
Z Life, GetVirtual, Tesla SolarCity

Salvatore Pecoraro
Painter, Sculpture, Educator

Susan True
Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County

Gina Tuzzi
Professor Humboldt State, Artist

Trevor Partham
GP / Oakland Black Business Fund

Jordan Corey
Singer, Song Writer, Performer

Michael Matkin
CITRIS, Banatao Institute

Jim Whitehead
Professor, Dept. of Computational Media, UCSC

Ian Waters
Staff Engineer Looker Google

Mothusi Pahl
Chief Commercial Officer /B3Bar Holdings

Emma McLaren
Founder & CEO of Myrth. International Speaker. Writer. Coach. Nomad-In-Residence.

Sue Carter
Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development at UCSC

Ahmed Bekhit
CTO / Magic Studio

Aliza Hava
Musician / Musican's Bass

Elodie Maillet Storm
Visual Media, Author/ Catchlight

Chris Thomas
CEO / The Stonington Group / HHH Board

Suzi Josselyn
Director Founder / Head Heart & Hands

Chris Miller
CEO / Launch Brigade
Judging Criteria
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Inclusivity (10%)
The final output considers equity, accessibility, and inclusiveness. -
Collaborative (20%)
Did team conduct Discovery, gather input, collaboration whether in the form of a team or advisors. -
Potential for impact at scale (30%)
The final output can work for a broad range of people and geographies. -
Creativity (20%)
How original is the idea? How does it uniquely address the problem? -
Project Completeness (20%)
Finalists will be judged on their abilities to narrate their creation process, identifying a problem, innovation, and final solution.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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