About the challenge

Every year, communities around the world face sustainability problems, from climate change to waste management, energy efficiency, and more. Technology has the potential to mitigate or find solutions to these issues. These solutions come from people who tinker and use creativity.

Lake Oswego Hacks (LOHacks) is a 32-hour virtual hackathon that brings together students aged 13-18 to spend their weekend tinkering around these environmental issues, with the theme being Technology for Planet.

Whether you are an experienced programmer, aspiring engineer, or simply someone with a great idea, there is a place for you. There are 2 tracks that participants can choose:

  • Hackathon/Technical Track: Build a technical project such as a website, mobile app, game,  AI application, hardware concept, CAD design, or engineering system.
  • Ideathon Track: Develop a research-backed proposal, presentation, or prototype without requiring programming experience.

Throughout the event, participants can attend workshops that explore design and CAD, GitHub tools, and more.

Choose a sustainability problem that matters to you, collaborate with your team, and turn ideas into solutions that could make the difference.

Get started

  1. Register for Lake Oswego Hacks on Devpost.
  2. Join our Slack workspace to receive announcements, ask questions, and connect with other participants.
  3. Form a team or participate individually.
  4. Brainstorm a sustainability challenge you want to address and decide whether your project fits the Hackathon or Ideathon track.
  5. Attend our workshops to learn new skills, including Git & GitHub, Design & CAD, and practical AI tools.
  6. Build your project during the event.
  7. Submit your project on Devpost before September 27 at 5:00 PM PT, including your project description, demonstration, and any supporting materials.
  8. Relax while our judges review submissions, and join us for the winner announcement on October 13.

Whether you're creating your first project or your fiftieth, we encourage you to learn something new, meet other students, and build something that contributes to a more sustainable future.

Requirements

What to Build

Build a project that addresses a sustainability challenge of your choosing through technology, engineering, research, or design. Remember the event theme and describe how your project relates to:

Technology for the Planet (Sustainability)

There are 2 tracks that your project may enter:

1) Hackathon Track

Create a technical project such as:

  • Websites or web applications
  • Mobile or desktop applications
  • Games
  • Artificial intelligence or machine learning projects
  • Robotics or embedded systems
  • Hardware concepts
  • CAD models or PCB designs
  • Other engineering or software solutions

We know it is hard to build something flawless in only 32 hours. We are not looking for a complete project, but rather a minimum viable product (MVP) that can give us a sense of what you are trying to achieve and its feasibility. That is also why you should spend time thinking about expressing your idea and product clearly during submission and demo.

Remember that physical hardware is not required. Engineering drawings, CAD models, schematics, simulation, and demonstrations are all acceptable.

Note: Creating a prototype doesn't require you to submit to the hackathon track; you are allowed to choose the ideathon track for your project, considering it will have a different rubric.

2) Ideathon

Develop a research-backed concept or proposal, including:

  • Presentations
  • Product concepts
  • Research papers
  • Mockups
  • Prototypes
  • Implementation plans
  • Feasibility studies
  • etc.

Coding is not required for the ideathon track.

Communication is the primary factor in the ideathon, so prepare to spend a substantial amount of time during submission to explain your work.

Note: Projects should primarily be developed during the hackathon. You may use existing libraries, frameworks, APIs, datasets, and dev tools, but pre-existing projects are not permitted without substantial work. If using a pre-existing project, the improvements on the original project should clearly be outlined during submission.

What to Submit

Each Devpost submission should include:

Required:

  • Project Name
  • Selected competition track: Hackathon or Ideathon
  • Project description
  • Demo video or presentation: explaining and showcasing the project (maximum length of 3 mins; judges may stop watching the demo after the 3-min point)
  • Project repository: GitHub, preferably, or another version control platform for Hackathon submission, or supporting documents for ideathon submission.
Recommended:
  • Installation or setup instructions
  • Screenshots or images of your project
  • Architecture diagrams, CAD models or engineering drawings (if applicable)
  • Documentation describing design decisions and implementation (very important)

Make sure all required materials are submitted before the deadline. Late submission cannot be accepted.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$260 in prizes
Best overall
$100 in cash
1 winner

This amount will be given to the best overall team in the form of Amazon gift cards, this total will be divided among the winning team's members

Most technical
$80 in cash
1 winner

This amount will be given to the most technically skilled team in the form of Amazon gift cards. This total will be divided among the winning team's members

Best idea (Ideathon track eligible)
$80 in cash
1 winner

This amount will be given to the team with the best and most comprehensive idea in the form of Amazon gift cards. This total will be divided among the winning team's members

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

TBD

TBD

Judging Criteria

  • Purpose and Sustainability Connection (hackathon)
    Measures how clearly the project is connected to the theme of sustainability through means of direct impact, education, awareness, research, and behavioral change
  • Creativity and innovation (Hackathon)
    Originality of the idea, uniqueness of the approach, and creative use of technology.
  • Technical Execution/Achievement (Hackathon)
    Quality of implementation of various technologies shown through engineering depth and specific choices.
  • Presentation and Documentation (Hackathon)
    Quality of explanation, demo, and overall explanation of the project.
  • *Project Focus (Hackathon)
    Category-specific value, see rules for more info
  • Problem Understanding and Research (Ideathon)
    How well the team understands the sustainability problem they choose to address
  • Solution Quality and Innovation (Ideathon)
    How creative, effective, and original the proposed solution is
  • Feasibility and Implementation Plan (Ideathon)
    How realistic the idea could be deployed in real world, whether the explanation is detailed enough
  • Impact and scalability (Ideathon)
    Potential environmental/social impact
  • Presentation and communication (Ideathon)
    Quality of pitch, visuals, evidence and storytelling

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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