FAQ - Competitors

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Q1: What is this year’s competition challenge?

  • We’ll focus on how to improve the quality of life in Georgia by leveraging the state’s strengths. In January, we will unveil a challenge statement bank that identifies specific factors that shape life in Georgia, pain points related to each factor, and resources that can be leveraged to solve them. Teams will have the creative freedom to springboard from there.

Q2: How many people can be on a team?

  • At least two and no more than four - all need to be currently enrolled as full-time or part-time students in a Georgia college or university at the time of the Jan 25-27 competition.

  • PLEASE NOTE: Each team member needs to complete an application.

  • Your team must be registered on the team panel in the application website.

Q3a: Is there a limit for how many teams from the same school can apply?

  • No, we welcome as many teams from each school that want to compete!

Q3b: Can my team included students from different universities?

  • Yes.

Q4: Can my team apply for more than one category?

  • Yes, but we encourage you to do so only if your team has the capabilities for each category. While we will take it into consideration, we cannot guarantee that teams will receive their top choice, so be prepared compete in any category you put in your application.

Q5: How many teams will compete in January and where?

  • About eight teams will compete within each of the categories with no more than 24 total teams gathering to compete in The Garage at Tech Square in midtown Atlanta.

  • Teams will have 24/7 access to the venue from start to finish. Competitors can come and go from the venue as needed.

  • Food, beverages, and snacks will be provided.

  • Competitors are highly encouraged to work from The Garage.

Q6: How will you determine which teams to invite as competitors?

  • We seek teams comprised of individuals that demonstrate the ability to create cohesive ideas and solutions in a limited time.

Q7: Does our team need to have worked together before?

  • Not necessarily. We will use previous collaborations as a tiebreaker element when making our selections.

Q8: How will you judge each category?

  • All three categories require teams to have a clear problem identified and a functioning novel solution for it.

  • We will unveil the specific judging criteria for each category on the first night of the competition.

  • Expectations for each category are as follows:

    • Coding teams must have functioning code.

    • Case study teams must submit a presentation deck and/or written report.

    • Design teams must present a prototype or poster presentation.

Q9: What resources will be available to competing teams?

  • In January, we will provide you with an executive briefing the week prior of the competition for the specific quality of life issue selected. During the Opening Ceremony will reveal the specific challenge sets.

Q10: Can we bring previous work product to the competition?

  • True to the spirit of hackathons, you may not submit your past projects to the Collegiate Cup. Using prior work will result in a disqualification.

Q11: Who are the winners?

  • There will be one winning team per category as well as a People’s Champion for each category. It is possible for a team to win both prizes for its category.

Q12: How will you determine the People’s Champion?

  • Individual competitors will vote for their favorite solutions in each of the two categories for which they are not competing.

Q13: What are the prizes?

  • For the Category Champions and People’s Champions, we will issue a cash prize directly and evenly to individual team members.

Q14: If teams from the same school get invited to compete, do they need to work on the same problem-solution?

  • No, they can work on separate problems. If teams choose to work on the same problems, they cannot work together. As stated above, we will prove a set of challenge statements in January from which teams can choose to solve.

Q15: What is the selection process timeline?

  • We will review each team’s application in early December. Teams that make it to the second round will need to fill out another round of questions by mid-December. From that pool, we will select the top 24 teams and send their invitations to compete in early January (no later than January 11).