CTP Hacks is CUNY Tech Prep's annual learning-first hackathon for our incoming cohort of fellows, students from across the CUNY system in computer science and related majors. This year, we're partnering with Major League Hacking (MLH) as an official MLH Hack Day, powered by Google Gemini. Fellows will spend the day building AI-powered projects in teams of 4, with mentors available to help them brainstorm, debug, and build.
There's no fixed problem theme, this event is your chance to explore building with Google Gemini AI. Build any creative application of your choosing that puts Gemini's capabilities to use, whether that's a smart assistant, a data tool, a creative experiment, or something entirely your own.
First hackathon? Never used AI to build something before? No experience needed...this is a friendly, low-stakes, learning-first environment. Come as you are!
Requirements
What to Build
Build any creative AI-powered application of your choosing. You can build from scratch or use existing frameworks and libraries, but you must submit within the event timeframe. All code must be written during the hackathon. Boilerplate and open-source tools are allowed.
CTP Hacks is powered by Google Gemini, giving you free access to Gemini's tools and a dedicated technical workshop to help you build with it. Projects that incorporate the Gemini API are eligible for the Best Use of Google Gemini API prize category.
What to Submit
To be considered for judging, each team must submit the following:
- [Required] Devpost: Describe what you built, how it functions, and the impact it aims to make.
- [Required] A GitHub repository link: Your code should be publicly accessible or shared with judges for review.
- [Required] A presentation or video: Canva, PowerPoint, or Google Slides deck, or a video demonstrating your application.
Prizes
Best Demo
$25 gift for each team member
Best Team Collaboration
For each team member:
Cracking the Coding Interview book + CTP t-shirt
Best SWE Practices
For each team member:
- LeetCode 1-month code
- $50 Amazon gift card
Creative Implementation
For each team member:
- LeetCode 1-month code
- $50 Amazon gift card
Best Use of Google Gemini API
For each team member: $50 gift card
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Salome Grasland
Lead Recruiter at The Information Lab
Kartik Arora
Founding AI engineer of AI and Robotics division at Wonder Foods
Deepika Sidana
Senior Manager, Software Engineering at American Express
Rahul Chaudhary
Lead Data Scientist at Pinterest
Siddharth Mishra
Software Development Engineer at Amazon
Ahmad Murad
Founding Engineer and Head of AI & Data at Kollegio
Mani Ramezan
Tech Lead at Capital One
Kaushik Reddy Pamulaparthy
Staff Data Scientist at Cloudera
Parsa Mazaheri
Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Apple
James Oh
Software Engineer at Outtake
Judging Criteria
-
Creative Implementation
Strong execution of an original approach to the problem, judged on creativity and quality of implementation.s. -
Quality of Implementation
How complete and functional is your project? We're looking for work that fulfills what it set out to do, not necessarily a flawless finished product. -
Quality of Presentation
How clearly and compellingly do you communicate your project? A strong presentation makes your idea easy to understand and exciting to hear about. -
Team Collaboration
How well did your team work together throughout the day? We value strong teamwork, communication, and mutual support. -
Learning-first Mindset
Did you push yourself to learn something new? We reward risk-taking and growth just as much as polish, this is a learning-first event.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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