Hackagong, one of Australia’s largest ‘hackathon’ events is back on for 2014 and is offering over $100,000 worth of prizes and giveaways for it’s competitors. Hackagong is an annual, weekend-long hackathon competition held in Wollongong where teams of designers, developers, creators and business-minded people get together and build something from start to finish in 30 hours. Hackagong first started in 2012 by founder Nathan Waters and since then, Hackagong has successfully ran four major events, attracting 700+ people and over $50,000 in prizes.
Once teams have finished their product, they will then need to pitch their solutions to notable judges, potential investors and the public. Judges will then award prizes to the winners. This year, the major winner will receive a prize package worth over $42,000. It includes cold hard cash, web hosting, coworking desks and much much more – perfect for the winning team to get their startup off the ground.
There have been a number of successful products to come out of Hackgong which include Giftling.com, the 2012 overall winner which has raised over $85,000 on the platform. Liquid Wallet created a 3D printed prototype of their product at Hackagong 2013 and have just finished a successful Kickstarter and raised over $17,000 to get their product off the ground.
Teams just have 30 hours to start and finish their product at Hackagong 2014. A number of categories for teams to compete against include design, programming, 3D printing, data visualisation and gaming.
Hackagong 2014 starts on the 29th of November and runs until Sunday evening. Tickets are still available for $30 from the website. All entrants receive Uber credit, Rackspace credit, access to 3D printers and food for the weekend. What could you make in 30 hours? Take a look at the HACKAGONGers Facebook Group for ideas and to find group members.
You can keep up to date on Hackagong by following the Twitter or Facebook accounts.
Disclaimer: Stewart is an organiser for Hackagong.