Please note, not all challenges are submitted on Devpost. If you don't see the challenge you're submitting for here, check the live site and your inbox to see where you should claim your points.
What is Local Hack Day: Build?Local Hack Day: Build is a week-long celebration of creating hacks both big and small. Choose between daily and week-long challenges that vary in difficulty, so whether this is your first time coding or you’re a seasoned expert, Build has something for you. The more challenges you conquer, the more points you’ll earn. Tune in each day to check out the leaderboard and show off all that you’ve built. To start hacking at LHD: Build, register here.
What are these Challenges?Local Hack Day: Build will run from Sunday, January 10th to Monday, January 18th. During this time, you can expect challenges for all skill levels. These challenges can be completed on your own time, and new ones will be released each day via email and on the live site! Once the daily challenges are announced, you’ll have 24 hours to complete and submit them in order to earn those points on the leaderboard.
If the daily challenges aren’t quite your speed, there will also be plenty of week-long challenges you can complete at any time. These will range from quick technical challenges to tasks you can complete with your guildmates, both beginner-friendly and technically advanced so there is something for everyone.
How do I earn points and swag?
Earn points for yourself and your Guild by completing our challenges throughout Local Hack Day: Build. Points are rewarded based on both your participation and completion of challenges throughout the week of Local Hack Day: Build. These range from daily challenges to week-long challenges which can be as simple as posting on your social media or as advanced as completing a workshop and building a hack.
We have some seriously cool swag up our sleeves for Local Hack Day: Build and we’ve made it simpler than ever for you to earn it. It all starts with checking in to events. Whether it’s a workshop or just the day of the event, you can earn tons of stickers to deck out your laptop, postcards, and more.
Everyone who checks in and completes a single challenge will receive:
An MLH Sticker |
An Ellie Season Sticker |
A Local Hack Day: Build Hexagon Sticker |
A Thank You Postcard |
If you check in each day, you will receive:
A bonus set of six hexagon stickers |
What is a Guild? How can I be a part of it?
One of the best parts of our community is that it allows people to meet and make connections with others, regardless of where you live. Guilds are smaller communities within Local Hack Day. Whether you come in with a Guild or not, you won’t be hacking alone. Those who don’t already have a Guild will be assigned to a randomly generated one where you can meet hackers from around the world and complete challenges together.
I want to form a Guild. What does that entail?
One of our favorite parts of Local Hack Day is the Guild system. Form one of your own to hack alongside your friends and fight for a spot on the leaderboard. Who wouldn’t want bragging rights for having one of the most active guilds within the MLH community?! Every time you complete a challenge during the week of Local Hack Day: Build, you’ll earn points for your Guild. There’s strength in numbers so it’s important to spread the word and we are here to help by providing you with pre-made marketing templates and this blog post with tips on marketing (#4 specifically). Use these templates to share the excitement with your club, friends, and local hackers! The more members you have, the more points you’ll get and the faster you’ll climb your way up the leaderboard.
Starting a Guild is as easy as filling out a form. Make sure to get yours registered before it’s too late!
Eligibility
This event open to hackers, all over the world. While we primarily work with student hackers or those who have graduated within the last 12 months, working professionals are also welcome to join us. Students can include high school students, university undergraduate or postgraduate students, and people who are in vocational training such as apprenticeships.
As per our Code of Conduct, there is no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, social class, economic status, veteran status, disability, or age.This event open to hackers, all over the world, who are students at the time of the hackathon or who have graduated within the last 12 months. Students can include high school students, university undergraduate or postgraduate students, and people who are in vocational training such as apprenticeships.
As per our Code of Conduct, there is no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, social class, economic status, veteran status, disability, or age.
Requirements
Your challenge submission must be completed within the 24-hour submission window (Thursday, January 14th at 12 PM EST - Friday, January 15th at 12 PM EST)
Your code must be available in some sort of public repository.
If you're continuing work on an old project, you MUST specify in your Devpost what was worked on 1) before this day one of LHD: Build and 2) during day one of LHD: Build.
Prizes
Explore Artificial Intelligence
We know AI is one of the most popular topics to explore, and we want to challenge you to spend some time this weekend learning more about it. If you’re already familiar, take some time to dive deeper. If you’re new to the topic, follow a tutorial or just spend some time watching videos or reading guides.
Build a Battlesnake Again!
Try creating a Battlesnake and competing against other hackers! Send it to your guildmates to play together or post it in our general-chat channel.
Make Anything for Twitch
We’ve had a blast interacting with y’all on Twitch all week long. Make a Twitch bot or extension to improve your experience or other hackers. Build whatever seems interesting to you!
Create a Chat Bot
Local Hack Day: Build is in part powered by some helpful Discord bots. We’d love to see you create your own Discord/Slack Bot or any other chat bot you’d like.
Make Something Musical
We challenged you earlier this week to use a Music API. We’re back with another music challenge. Emulate instruments, create something that generates music, or use a different music API. We’ll be singing your praises if you submit on the Weekend Devpost.
Build a Fitness App
Fitness applications are some of the most popular projects at hackathons. Maybe use the Strava API to track your miles, Garmin or FitBit API to analyze activity or anything else you can think of. Run on over to the Weekend Devpost to show it off.
Hey, Computer, what’s that?
Use computer vision or image recognition to complete this challenge. Maybe you want to recognize common objects and read them aloud or analyze video to provide the watcher with extra context.
Social Media API
We’ve seen a ton of great social media activity during LHD: Build, so we’re challenging you to take that a step further. Try using a Social Media API like Facebook or Twitter.
It’s All About Fintech
Fintech is growing quickly, and we know hackers are excited to explore this space. Build any finance application and show it to us on the Weekend Devpost. If could help you track your expenses, analyze stock prices, or help you find the best deals online.
Flask Webapp
Ryan loves Flask and wants you to love Flask too. If you’ve never used Flask before, we’ve got a Starter Kit to get you going. Either way, we want you to create anything with Flask as your framework.
Use GPS or Maps Technology
Try incorporating GPS or any map technology into a new project - or even add it into an existing one.
Try using Bootstrap
Try incorporating Bootstrap into a website - either one you’ve already created or spin up a new one.
Authentication System
Secure sign-ins are an important part of many hacks. We want you to implement an authentication system into an existing hack or just create the system for future use! Make sure you’re signed into Devpost before you submit.
Totally Not Ryan Challenge
Totally Not Ryan needs a lot of help as you’ve seen. He’s all about earning points and participating in LHD: Build. Create or do something to help him out. Make a video of yourself teaching him how to check in, create a points dashboard or visualization, a reminder bot to make sure you’re earning points, or something else you think he’d love.
Create a demo video for one of your challenges
We want you to submit a 2 minute long “demo” video of your favorite hack or hacks you made this week. Your video should show us a demo of what you built while you explain why you built it. We might play some of our favorite demos at our Closing Ceremony.
Leverage a Cloud Database
We know that databases can be confusing, so we want you to get your feet wet with them here at LHD: Build. If you're not sure where to start, try 30 days of free usage from CockroachDB.
Save the Blahajs
We know that many of you have been inspired by Jack's love for Blahaj this week at LHD. We want to see you create something that protects the environment and animals (sharks or not).
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges

Major League Hacking
Judging Criteria
-
None
LHD:Build is a celebration of building projects both large and small. Instead of judging projects and awarding prizes, we are giving out points to folks who complete these challenges. These points go to earning your LDH:Build swag.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Tell your friends
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