User:Mmank42/sandbox

=Hack Western= Hack Western is an annual, student-run hackathon held by the University of Western Ontario. Founded in 2014, the hackathon is a recurring event which takes place over the fall or winter university academic terms. Hack Western is a non-profit event, organized and run by 11 to 50 employees. Over 500 students attend each annual, weekend-long hackathon, and have the opportunity to participate in workshops, build software and  hardware projects, and compete for prizes.

History
Hack Western was an idea conceived by three Western students who were building an Android application at MHacks IV in Michigan. After experiencing the energetic and collaborative environment at MHacks IV, they were inspired to grow the technology community and bring the hackathon to Western.

The first Hack Western hackathon took place from March 27, 2015 to March 29, 2015. The hackathon was able to support over 300 students from Western and across Ontario.

The next Hack Western hackathon, Hack Western 2, took place from November 27, 2015 to November 29, 2015. The overall winning project was Magicam, an application that allows users to upload videos and assign images to them, as well as play videos on top of photos scanned by a phone's camera. Approximately 450 students attended the event.

Hack Western 3, as part of Major League Hacking (MLH), took place from October 14, 2016 to October 16, 2016. The event was presented by Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab at the Ivey Business School. The overall winning project was Braille Printer, an application that allows a user to type a word on a keyboard and convert the word to braille code, which is printed using solenoids. There was an increase in the number of students who attended the event in comparison to the previous two hackathon events, as over 500 students attended.

Hack Western 4
Hack Western 4 was the fourth annual Hack Western hackathon organized and hosted by the University of Western Ontario. The hackathon was part of Major League Hacking (MLH) and sponsored by multiple software, hardware, and business companies.

Taking place at Althouse College of Education from Friday, November 17, 2017 to Sunday, November 19, 2017, the event welcomed over 500 students from the University of Western Ontario and other universities in Ontario and North America. 106 projects were submitted for prize selections, and 276 students registered as part of the project submission process.

Learning Workshops
Multiple sponsor companies at Hack Western 4 held workshops prior to, during, and after the 36-hour hackathon period. Like previous hackathons, student attendance at workshops was optional.

Transportation
Buses are sent to universities in different cities to accommodate students travelling to the hackathon from other areas of Ontario, Quebec, and the Eastern United States. Bus transportation is free of charge for students. Students who travel to the hackathon via other modes of transportation are reimbursed for their travel expenses.

Food
All meals and drinks are provided by event organizers and sponsor companies, free of charge to students participating in the hackathon. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and snacks are all provided throughout the event.

Registration
Students of all skill levels are able to apply for Hack Western. Students must complete applications to be considered for acceptance into the hackathon. Students are chosen based on the strength of their applications. Executives are in charge of reviewing all applications and sending acceptance emails to select students.

Rules
At the event, individuals or teams of up to four students must adhere to the following guidelines:
 * Teams have 36 hours to write code and assemble hardware. No code can be written and no hardware can be assembled before or after the hackathon-specific times.
 * Software exceptions include existing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) from sponsored companies and other open source resources, which can be incorporated into projects.
 * Hardware exceptions include manufactured parts that do not require assembly with a breadboard outside of a factory.
 * Art assets brought to Hack Western must be free and publicly available.
 * Planning and prototypes for implementation and assembly can be done before the hackathon.
 * The final product must be original.

To be eligible for project submission, students must have been accepted to participate at Hack Western and built their project at Hack Western.

Project Submission
Students and teams planning to demonstrate a project at the demo fair must create a Devpost account. Teams are then able to submit their projects by linking to their separate project repository via their Devpost. This submission process is necessary for judges and event organizers to figure out each project name, all team members associated with a project, and the prize categories that a team submitted for.

Each team member also creates an entry in their project submission, describing their project contribution, what challenges they faced, and what they learned in the process. Optionally, teams can also add demonstration videos and screenshots along with their Devpost submission.

Demo Fair
After teams submit their projects through Devpost, they are able to begin setting up their project on numerically assigned tables in a general meeting area. Once set-up, judges begin visiting project tables.

Each team is expected to give a three-minute pitch describing the need and purpose for their device or product, while demonstrating its functions. Multiple judges visit each project table in a specific order based on the table number assigned to each project. The judging panel is comprised of key sponsor company members. By the end of the demo fair, judges choose the top three projects, as well as the other prize-winning projects.

Specific companies award prizes to selected teams, based on how well projects incorporate company-provided tools, resources, and APIs.

Judging Criteria

 * Creativity
 * Technical Difficulty
 * Use of product
 * Polish
 * Demonstration of Learning

Judging Panel
Hack Western 4

Prizes
Hack Western 4