Following Los Angeles’ election of our new mayor, the hackathon offers government agencies, businesses, nonprofits and civically engaged individuals the opportunity to work together to move into a new era of solving complex social problems through technology innovation. We are beginning the process of building a civic hacking movement here in Los Angeles, and this is our first event. We have multiple categories and challenges that you can respond to at the local and federal level. We are looking for innovative apps and ideas that address community issues and make use of open data.
Eligibility
Any participating team registered through the Hack for LA challengepost site with a leader who is over 18 can enter the challenge. You must have an idea, functional overview, and at minimum technical specifications and some coding completed to enter for prizes. Any participating team can post and idea and overview to this page. All prizing is up to the judges and at the discretion of organizers and sponsors. No submission can win more than 2 prizes!
Requirements
You must present an overview of your Hack for LA civic application, which should include the goals for the application, how it relates to the community needs of Los Angeles, which specific prize (if any) you are applying for, and the code you've created during the weekend, as well as any visual materials or other backup documents. We encourage mobile app submissions but any platform or software is acceptable.
Prizes
$24,650 in prizes
Best Overall Hack for LA App - 1st Prize
Judges will select the best 3 overall apps from all those submitted that have a civic, community, or public interest component that will benefit the Los Angeles community. Overall winners also receive automatic enrollment in SoftLayer's Catalyst Startup program, a 12-month program which includes free hosting credits ($1k/month; total of $12k for the year), mentorship (business and technical) and marketing support. Plus $500 in Amazon Web Services credit!
Best Overall Hack for LA App - 2nd Prize
Overall winners also receive automatic enrollment in SoftLayer's Catalyst Startup program, a 12-month program which includes free hosting credits ($1k/month; total of $12k for the year), mentorship (business and technical) and marketing support.
Best Overall Hack for LA App - 3rd Prize
Sierra Wireless Unite Device with 1 month 1GB data plan for each team member. Overall winners also receive automatic enrollment in SoftLayer's Catalyst Startup program, a 12-month program which includes free hosting credits ($1k/month; total of $12k for the year), mentorship (business and technical) and marketing support.
i.am.angel Award for Best Boyle Heights App
Prize for the team who create the app that best serves the needs of Boyle Heights, with potential to make a real-life impact on the community. Criteria: The app must be functional, incorporate local data sets or enable the creation of personal data, and have a tangible impact on the Boyle Heights community.
CGI Challenge for best use of Los Angeles data
CGI is sponsoring this prize for the best use of Los Angeles-specific data in an app or visualization.
Google Challenge: Best Environmental/ Health app - 1st prize
With so much public concern about the environment and health issues, but an overload of conflicting information in the public domain, Google is supporting a challenge to focused on using the wealth of public environmental and health data to clear up the confusion and help people make better choices.
Google Challenge: Best Environmental/ Health app - 2nd prize
Scopely Challenge: Best Civic App with a gaming or social element - 1st Prize
Scopely is redefining the way social games are developed! Scopely is offering prizes for the best civic apps with a gaming or social element.
Scopely Challenge: Best Civic App with a gaming or social element - 2nd Prize
Chase Bank Challenge: Best app related to jobs, business, and economic development
Chase Bank wants you to create the best app for Los Angeles economic development. Examples include apps that help people look for jobs, job training, apps that serve local small businesses, help foster local entrepreneurship etc.
memBRAIN Challenge: Best arts app
Create the best app related to LA arts and culture! Examples include apps that help preserve public art, chronicle the history of a community, creates or curates street art.
ESRI Map Challenge
Esri's GIS (geographic information systems) mapping software helps you understand and visualize data to make decisions. This challenge awards $1,000 for the best app that uses an ESRI map layer for a civic purpose.
AT&T API Challenge
Gift cards worth $250 for the best app using AT&T APIs - more details here: http://developer.att.com/developer/apiLandingPage.jsp?passedItemId=9700218
Amazon WS Cloud Challenge - First Prize
This award will be given to the team that made the best use of the AWS credits to improve LA through their app. The prizes (AWS credits) will allow teams to continue running their applications in the cloud.
Amazon WS Cloud Challenge - 2nd Prize
(2)
This award will be given to the team that made the best use of the AWS credits to improve LA through their app. The prizes (AWS credits) will allow teams to continue running their applications in the cloud.
Amazon WS Cloud Challenge - 3rd Prize
(2)
This award will be given to the team that made the best use of the AWS credits to improve LA through their app. The prizes (AWS credits) will allow teams to continue running their applications in the cloud.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
How to enter
All individuals and teams participating on-site during the Hack for LA event must reigster on Challengepost to be considering for prizes and judging.
Here are some datasets that can be used as part of you Hack for LA submission:
Data Resources
- Metro Developer: Los Angeles Transit Data
- City of Los Angeles Open Data Pilot Maps
- Portal for Los Angeles County Data
- Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS)
Judges

Hack for LA Judges Team
Hack for LA
Judging Criteria
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Originality of the idea and potential impact on Los Angeles
Apps will be judged based on their originality and creativity as well as their potential impact on the community and the challenges we face here in Los Angeles. -
Clear articulation of the idea
Teams will be judged on their ability to clearly articulate the details, goals, data, and process they used in development of their submission. -
Technology used in the submission
Judges will rank submissions based on the technologies and platforms used as well as the extent and quality of coding completed during the weekend. -
Feasibility and appeal
Judges will consider the feasibility of implementation and likelihood of adaption and use by the Los Angeles community.
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