Judges
These are the judges for the 2023 Hesburgh Libraries Hackathon. Judges are selected from across campus to ensure they bring a wide range of skills and perspectives to the judging process.
Chandrika Satayavolu
Associate Teaching Professor
Computer Science and Engineering
Helen Hockx-Yu
Enterprise Architect
University of Notre Dame
Steve Varela
Director of Teaching & Learning Technologies
University of Notre Dame
Caterina Agostini
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship
Presentations
Presentation Format
Unless approved by the event administrators (typically for medical reasons), all presentations must be delivered in person. Teams will have exactly 4 minutes to deliver their presentation. There will be no Q&A session following your presentation, so structure your presentation well and practice it thoroughly to anticipate information the judges might need to evaluate your presentation in the best light.
There is no required format for the presentation. However, we recommend that your team consider including the following components, which will best help our panel of judges evaluate your contribution according to the 5 criteria of the judging rubric. Is it not required to add these components lock-step, but they may help ensure you're adequately describing your work and your product.
- Team Name — Have you introduced yourselves?
- Project Title — Have you clearly stated the project name? If the name has a special significance, have you unpacked that for the audience?
- Project Description — Have you given a succinct but clear description of the project and its value to users? What users, communities and/or markets are you targeting?
- Innovation & Impact — What is the value proposition of your hack? How is better than other similar products, for example? How will your hack positively change / improve the delivery of information, the acquisition of services, etc., for users?
- Technical Merit — Have you described the technical aspects of your hack? What does it do and how does it work? What languages, frameworks, libraries, have you used in building it?
- Demo — Have you demonstrated how your hack works? Have you recorded direct interactions or, at a minimum, used screen shots?
- Challenges — Have you described any interesting challenges you faced or may face if you were to take the project forward?
- Opportunities — What opportunities exist for, say, taking the hack to market, or marketing it at scale? What are next steps, if any, for your hack?
× Presentation Criterion
Take the presentation seriously. Not only is the presentation worth 10% of the judging criteria, but it is your opportunity to help the judges understand how interesting, useful and unique your project is. The order of the presentation videos will be randomly assigned. For presentation submission deadlines, see the presentation schedule.
Judging Criteria
Each category has a weighted percentage that will be used to calculate the final score for each team.
| Category | Weight | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Innovation | 30% | The project should take a unique, interesting, and creative approach to solving the problem(s) identified by this year's theme. This criterion looks at novel or cutting edge methods for user interaction, data manipulation and presentation, and use of new technology. |
| Impact | 30% | The proposed solution should have a significant impact in solving technological challenges posed by the theme of that year's hackathon. For example, solutions might aim to improve the way users organize, communicate, schedule, or perhaps manage information, resources, or people, with regard to that theme. |
| Usability | 15% | Usability represents ease-of-use in engaging with content and services. The project should exemplify the highest standards of intuitive and elegant User Experience Design (UX). The project should easily, pleasantly, safely, and elegantly help users. |
| Technical Merit | 15% | The application was technically challenging to construct, requiring strong programming skills from the team. The team made wise choices in selecting conventional but creative components and libraries to construct the app. The complexity and elegance of the back-end matches the front-end. |
| Presentation | 10% | Through the final presentation, the team should clearly communicate the value of the project. The final presentation of the product to the judges should be professional, well-structured, and meaningful. Creativity, style, and engagement with the audience are key.The team may also wish to describe their process and developmental hurdles and how they overcame them. |
Prizes
Prizes
The three main prizes for the Hesburgh Hackathon are awarded to teams who excel in all of the criteria on the judging rubric.
| Prize | Award |
|---|---|
| First Prize | $3,000 |
| Second Prize | $2,000 |
| Third Prize | $1,000 |
| Honorable Mention * | $500 |
| Honorable Mention * | $500 |
* Judges may use their discretion in awarding up to 2 additional prizes under the category of Honorable Mention. Winners of the first, second and third-place prizes are not eligible for these prizes. These prizes are awarded to teams who may not have excelled in all of the criteria of the judging rubric but who may have shown exceptional skill in one or more area.
× Winner Payment Processing
- Each individual on a winning team must submit the prize payment information form before leaving the event.
- Payments will be direct deposited into accounts on file at the University in the next bi-weekly pay period following the event. Individuals will receive a notification email from Payroll Services when the deposit is made. (If a notice/deposit has not been received within 3 weeks of the event, please contact us and we will help to follow up with Payroll Services.)
Prize Allocation
Without exception, cash prizes are split equally by University Accounting among all team members. Please note that awards may be subject to taxation, depending on student status.
Winners Featured
All winning teams and their projects will be featured on the Hesburgh Libraries' website.