We hope that Pearl Hacks will help women and gender nonconforming individuals of all skill levels realize their true value within tech, invigorate their educational journeys, and inspire one another to continue dreaming and achieving amazing things.

Requirements

Max 4 people per team
Original code/work
- Boilerplate code may be used, but you must cite your source(s)
  - Eligible sources consist of code from open-source tutorials and code given to hackers through sponsor workshops
- All code and/or other materials must have been written or produced within the time frame of the hacking period
No cross-hackathon submissions allowed
- You may not submit your Pearl Hacks project to another hackathon, or vice versa!
Late submissions will not be considered for prize judging, but may still be demo-ed at the fair

Prizes

$5,215 in prizes

Pearl Hacks: "Best Overall Hack" (3)

Members of teams who win this prize can individually choose which prize option they want. First place winners can choose between a Samsung Galaxy Tablet and Nintendo Switch Lite. Second place winners can choose between a JBL Wireless Bluetooth Speaker and Polaroid Go Camera Bundle. Third place winners can choose between a Logitech Wireless Keyboard + Mouse Combo and an Amazon Echo Dot + Rocketbook. (Note: International hackers will receive an Amazon gift card of approximate value for whatever tier they win in.)

Appian: "Most Creative Use of Automation"

Appian provides diverse form of automatic for businesses across the globe. Get creative and automate! Winners will receive a $100 DoorDash gift card.

Bandwidth: "Best Communication and Community Hack" (2)

First-place winners will receive a Bandwidth gift basket and Apple airpods. Second-place winners will receive a Bandwidth gift basket and Amazon gift card.

BCG Gamma: "Most Innovative Hack" (2)

First-place winners will receive an a BCG-branded Oculus Quest 2. Second-place winners will receive a $100 Amazon gift card.

Capital One: "Best Financial Hack"

Winners will receive a $250 Amazon gift card.

CapTech: "Most Innovative Hack to Successfully Navigate a Changing World"

Crises, like COVID-19, often spur a period of innovation; it’s a necessity for companies (and schools) to pro-actively change the way they conduct business, engage employees/students and mitigate risks. This blog post can be used for further context: https://www.captechconsulting.com/articles/making-innovation-intrinsic-to-your-organization. Winners will receive an Alpine Flask!

Cisco: "Best #InclusiveFuture Hack"

Cisco’s purpose is to “Power an Inclusive Future for All”. We want to bring people into a future that includes and values everyone! Our prize goes to the team whose hack is the best example of powering an inclusive future. It will include a bluetooth speaker, a yeti, portable charger, and a webcam cover!

CoStar Group: "Best Use of Real Estate Data"

We are looking for the best implementation of public real estate data. Hackers, show us what you’ve got! Make an App, Dashboard, Chatbot, Visualization, Market Place, Route Planning for Vising Houses (field research), Price Prediction (ML), Property Comparisons, House Categorization… there is no limit just like at CoStar. You can find the data here at https://bit.ly/3HV6OIX. Winners will receive an Apple airtag + loop, Brumate, and a $100 Amazon gift card!

Credit Suisse: "Best use of Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence"

Winners will receive a Tile (waterproof bluetooth tracker) and water-resistant travel laptop backpack!

Genesys: "Best Use of Improving Customer Experience" (2)

First-place winners will receive a $100 AMEX gift card. Second-place winners will receive a $75 AMEX gift card.

Google Cloud: "Best Use of Google Cloud API" (2)

First-place winners will receive a Google Cloud backpack. Second-place winners will receive a Google Cloud swag box.

M&T Tech: "Most Creative Hack"

We are looking for the most creative Mobile app. Or website. Clearly describe your idea. What problem are you trying to solve, how will it add value? Who are your users? Explain your technical stack. What languages/tools/technologies did you use, and why? Where will you take it next? The winning team will get 1:1 virtual coffee chats with M&T employees/technologist and $100 Amazon gift cards for each team member. (Note: US prize winners only.)

nCino: "Why So Serious Hack"

At nCino, we are serious about software, but we refuse to take ourselves seriously. When the going gets rough, we shoot nerf darts at each other. We celebrate our victories with parties and fun. We invite you to create something "not so serious." Use your creative minds to hack something silly and have fun doing it. Winners will receive an nCino swag pack and $25 Amazon gift card!

Red Ventures: "Most Engaging Hack"

Winners will receive a RV GIFT Card Swag Bag with cool household items and RV merchandise, plus a $50 Amazon gift card!

SAS: "Best Pairing of Curiosity and Innovation Hack"

Winners will receive a SAS swag bag!

Stellar: "Best Blockchain-Powered App on Stellar" (2)

Integrate NFTs, crypto-currencies, real-world currencies like dollars or euros, or issue your own token! The possibilities are endless and you have the power to shape it to your use case. Sounds too difficult for your first try? Think again! It’s easy to get started as you can use your coding language of choice through a suite of SDKs and helpful documentation. Also, we’ll guide you to set up your code through an engaging workshop! The first-place winning team will receive $1000 worth of XLM total (to be split between all team members). The second-place team will receive $600 worth of XLM total (to be split between all team members).

WillowTree: "Best Mobile Hack"

Winners will receive a $100 gift card to Apple or Google Play Stores!

MLH: "Best Domain Name from Domain.com"

Register a .tech domain name using Domain.com during the weekend. Each team may submit one entry per person on the team. Each winning team member will receive a PowerSquare Qi wireless phone charger.

MLH: "Best Use of DeSo"

DeSo is the official Web3 sponsor of the MLH Hackathon League and the first Layer 1 blockchain custom-built for decentralized social media applications. While blockchains like Avalanche or Solana cost $0.50+ to store just a 200-character post, the DeSo blockchain is built with custom indexing and storage optimizations which make it 10,000X cheaper to store social content on-chain! In order to qualify for the contest, you must launch an app that writes to the DeSo blockchain and/or implements DeSo identity. While social media apps are a great fit for DeSo, you can also build financial apps, marketplaces, and more on the DeSo blockchain. For inspiration on project ideas, you can check out some of the existing 200+ apps already live on DeSo at Bithunt.com as well as our DeSo APIs. The Best Use of DeSo gets $100 worth of $DESO coin & an exclusive DeSo branded tumbler!

MLH: "Best Use of Google Cloud"

Build your hackathon project with a suite of secure storage, powerful compute, and integrated data analytics products provided by Google Cloud. See full list of products here: g.co/cloud. Each winning team member located in the US will receive a Google Cloud Swag Bag complete with a beanie, pillow, journal, socks and lanyards. International winners will receive a Google branded backpack.

MLH: "Best Use of MATLAB"

MATLAB and Simulink are computation tools used at more than 5,000 institutions worldwide. Use their software in your next hack to win some exclusive MathWorks swag including a MathWorks branded cinch bag, pair of socks, baseball cap, stylus pen & deck of cards! You can also claim a free MATLAB software license to get started.

MLH: "Most Creative Use of GitHub"

GitHub is one of the best ways to collaborate, push code, get feedback, and show the world what you’ve built during a hackathon. To take it a step further, GitHub is now offering you access to industry tools, events & learning resources through something called GitHub Global Campus. Win this weekend’s Best Use of GitHub prize category, first by signing up for GitHub Global Campus and second by using a GitHub repository to host your hackathon project’s code! Make sure your use of GitHub stands out with a detailed ReadMe page, meaningful pull requests and collaboration history, and even a GitHub pages deployment!

MLH: "Most Creative Use of Twilio"

Twilio allows you to incorporate mobile messaging, phone calls and a ton of other awesome communication features right into your hackathon project using web service APIs. Are you building an e-commerce website and want to send text notifications or email confirmations once an order is completed? Or maybe your application needs to verify users based on their mobile numbers? Twilio makes all this possible and more. Build a hack that simplifies your life using any one of Twilio’s APIs for a chance to win a Twilio Swag Box and GameGo Console for you and each of your teammates!

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judging Criteria

Basic Submission Eligibility
Submission teams must be 1-4 people. All code submitted for judging must have been written during the hackathon.

Online	Public
$5,215 in prizes	202 participants

Pearl Hacks 2022

Pearl Hacks is dedicated to empowering women and nonbinary students within technology. In this weekend of fun and learning, you'll learn about tech and meet fantastic people!

Who can participate