Our Goal

At Project: Empower, our vision is to solve problems in underprivileged communities and high school students through code. Through this hackathon, we wish to help aspiring programmers foster there passion for coding and allow them to realize the impact that they can make through programming.

How it Works

Empower Hacks 3.0 is a hackathon hosted by Project: Empower, a student run non profit organization. It will consist of 3 steps the kickoff meeting, development period, and judging period/closing ceremony. Participants will develop a software project in there teams following the prompt that is given.

The hackathon will have seperate beginner no code and programming categories, so beginners have a high chance of winning!

1. Sign up / Kickoff

Join our Discord server. Go to #-sign-up in the Empower Hacks 3.0 folder. Give yourself the Empower Hacks 2025 role. Fill out the registration form.

2. Development

Build or Pitch your app within the allotted timeslot!

3. Judging

Get judging feedback from our experienced judges!

Workshops

Throughout the week of the hackathon, Workshops will be hosted from experts in their field!
*In order to place top 10 in any given category, you must attend at least 2 workshops!

View our event website here

Every Participant wins the following: Wolfram | One, Interview Buddy discount codes, UniBee 3-month access, and Interview Cake interview course!

DISCLAIMER: Most of the prizes to be won in this hackathon are non-cash related.

Requirements

What to Build

Either pitch or code an app that answers the prompt! (More instructions on the Discord server.)

What to Submit

Submission requirments linked in the discord server.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$435,374+ in prizes
+ other prizes
Participation Awards (Every Participant Receives the follwing)
1 winner

Wolfram | One
Interview Cake 7-day Preparation Course
3-Month UniBee Access
Interview Buddy Discount Codes

Kinetik - Future of Work Challenge
$1,000 in cash
1 winner

Kinetik Future of Work Challenge:
Submission Link: https://www.kinetikgigs.com/3906e39e-5240-4766-965b-f281ff14294d
Access code: kinetik

Art of Problem Solving Coupon Code ($25 Value)
$25 in cash
4 winners

Redeem this coupon code to receive $25 at aops.com.
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Chess.com 1 Month Free Diamond Pass Subscription ($9 Value)
$9 in cash
30 winners

Give access to one free month of Diamond Pass on Chess.com!
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Interview Cake 7 Day Full Coding Interview Preparation Course License ($50 Value)
$50 in cash
455 winners

This prize includes full access licenses, so attendees can get access to a full coding interview prep course for 7 days.
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Free Year of 1Password Family ($60 Value)
$60 in cash
40 winners

This prize includes one free year of using the 1Password family subscription!
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

3 Months free UniBee Access ($30 Value)
$30 in cash
455 winners

This prize includes 3 free months of UniBee Cloud Version for all recipients.
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Wolfram | One - 6 Months ($830 Value)
$830 in cash
455 winners

Wolfram|One includes both Desktop and Cloud access, full access to the Wolfram Language and Knowledgebase, FreeCDF Deployment, 5000 Wolfram|Alpha API calls, 5000 Cloud Credits, 2 installations per user and 2 GB of Cloud Storage.
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Wolfram Award - One Year of Wolfram | One ($1,660 Value)
$1,660 in cash
10 winners

For anyone who utilizes the Wolfram Language in their project: This prize contains a full year of Wolfram | One and the opportunity to gain a $500 scholarship if you apply to a Wolfram Program.
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Wolfram Scholarship ($500 Value)
$500 in cash
1 winner

If you utilize Wolfram Language in your project AND apply to a Wolfram program, you have the chance to win this scholarship!
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Interview Buddy AI Vouchers ($6 Value)
$6 in cash
9 winners

* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

Interview Buddy Discount Codes
455 winners

Exclusive Discount Codes for all participants!
* Note that the winners will not receive cash, only the award; this is just the cash value of the prize.

1st Place Coding
$125 in cash
1 winner

Interview Buddy Voucher ($6)
1Password Subscription ($60)
Chess.com Diamond Pass ($9)
$125 in Cash (split between team members)

2nd Place Coding
$75 in cash
1 winner

Interview Buddy Voucher ($6)
1Password Subscription ($60)
Chess.com Diamond Pass ($9)
$75 in Cash (split between team members)

3rd Place Coding
$50 in cash
1 winner

Interview Buddy Voucher ($6)
1Password Subscription($60)
Chess.com Diamond Pass ($9)
$50 in Cash (split between team members)

4-10th Place Coding/Pitch
14 winners

1Password ($60)
Chess ($9)

1st Place Pitching
$75 in cash
1 winner

Interview Buddy Voucher ($6)
1Password Subscription ($60)
Chess.com Diamond Pass ($9)
$75 in Cash (split between team members)

2nd Place Pitching
$50 in cash
1 winner

Interview Buddy Voucher ($6)
1Password Subscription ($60)
Chess.com Diamond Pass ($9)
$50 in Cash (split between team members)

3rd Place Pitching
$25 in cash
1 winner

Interview Buddy ($6)
1Password ($60)
Chess ($9)
$25 in Cash (split between team members)

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Jeet Mehta

Jeet Mehta
Software Development Engineer @ Netflix

Chirag Agrawal

Chirag Agrawal
Senior Software Engineer @ Amazon

Senthilkumaran Rajagopalan

Senthilkumaran Rajagopalan
Tech Lead Manager @ Meta

Pratik Sheth

Pratik Sheth
Technical Lead, Software Applications @ Google Inc.

Judging Criteria

  • Originality
    How original/creative/new is the idea?
  • Applicability to Prompt
    Does this actually meet the prompt?
  • Presentation
    Was their presentation good?
  • Execution
    Does the product look nice, polished, etc.
  • What's Next?
    Does it seem like this project would continue after this hackathon? Is it something sustainable for the future? Extra points if open source!
  • Potential for Impact
    How significant is the potential impact on the intended audience?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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Hackathon sponsors

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