FOR THE 3RD HAWAII ANNUAL CODE CHALLENGE, the State of Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) are calling all  software developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to lend their collective creativity toward improving state government at the 2018 Hawaii Annual Code Challenge (HACC).

The competition will kick-off on Saturday, October 20, at the Imin International Conference Center (East-West Center), Keoni Auditorium, and culminate with the HACC Judging and Awards on Saturday, November 10, at the same location. Check-in will begin at 9 a.m. on both days. Workshops will be held at HPU in between the kickoff and judging on October 27 and November 3 for skills building and team work time.

The theme for the challenges this year will be focused on sustainability goals demonstrated in the Aloha+ Challenge Dashboard focusing on social, economic and environmental factors. The Aloha+ Challenge is a statewide commitment to achieve six interconnected sustainability goals for 2030 and is recognized as a localized framework for the global United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Dashboard measures statewide progress on Hawai‘i’s sustainability goals.

Additionally, the AGathon developed by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC), will be joining forces with HACC as the AGathon aligns with the Food Production & Consumption vertical of the Aloha+ Challenge dashboard measures. Joining both events offers greater impact and visibility, bringing agriculture challenges to the forefront.

The HACC is not your traditional hackathon, which typically takes place over a single day or weekend. The HACC provides an expanded three-week timeframe to encourage interaction between community teams and state departments, resulting in sustainable solutions appropriately matched with technologies and platforms in use or being considered by the state. Last year, more than 200 coders and innovators participated.

Open to everyone, from students to amateurs to professionals, the HACC is designed to engage the local tech community in modernizing state functions and services for a more effective, efficient and open government. Conceived by Gov. David Y. Ige, the event is coordinated by the Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) in partnership with HPU. Multiple state departments and agencies will put forth challenges for participants to identify innovative ways to improve government services.

At the HACC Kickoff, participants will form teams and choose a challenge themed around key problems facing the state. The teams then work over the next three weeks to develop their solutions. Then, teams will present their solutions for judging and the selection of winners. 

Rules and judging criteria will be announced prior to the kickoff event, with the list of challenges to be announced at the event itself. For more information, visit HACC.hawaii.gov.

$9,192 in prizes

• Submissions must be entirely the work of the contestants. Teams may use any software/platform of their choosing for their projects and submissions will be uploaded to the official HACC GitHub. Teams may use open source code as the basis for their original work. 
• Participants and teams must register their submission here at HACC2018.devpost.com

• Technical Review
  Includes the assessment made by the HACC Technical Review Committee; point maximum is 25.
• Originality
  Includes creativity and uniqueness of the idea; point maximum for this category is 15.
• Design
  Includes the extent to which the solution or application is polished and visually appealing; point maximum for this category is 15.
• Potential for Long Term Sustainability of Solution
  Includes using appropriate technologies being considered or currently in use by the state; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Utility and Impact
  Includes the uniqueness of the integration and the extent to which the application impacts users or new users; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Team Collaboration
  Includes ability for team to collaborate with State of Hawaii Challenge Sponsor; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Presentation and Delivery
  Includes the use of various media in the final presentation and a well-executed and engaging delivery within prescribed time limit; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Audience Top Choice
  All attendees will be invited to participate in an audience poll or overall rating for each challenge presentation; point maximum for this category is 5.