Carleton University’s cuHacking club made coding history when it hosted Ottawa’s largest-ever 24-hour hackathon.
The event took place at Carleton University Jan. 11 and Jan. 12. There were 600 participants and 106 projects.
The objective of the hackathon, open to university and high school students all over the world, was to build a coding project in a 24-hour window.
The most successful candidates of the competition earned esteemed co-op positions from companies sponsoring the event such as RBC, Martello, Ross Video, and Jet Brains.
“It’s like a networking conference and a 24-hour challenge built together,” said Imran Juma, the co-leader of cuHacking.
Canalytica was the winning team for this year’s hackathon. The team created an app that collects detailed insights from social media platforms which tell companies what customers are saying about their services.
The second-place team was Eco Step who created an app that allows users to scan barcodes on articles of clothing to see how environmentally friendly they are. Team Hack to Death won third place in the Murder Mystery Challenge at Carleton’s hackathon.
Participating in the Murder Mystery Challenge, the third-place team Hack to Death, used Wi-Fi signals and various other coding techniques to solve a murder.
When the hackathon came to a close, several students looked exhausted and admitted to consuming large quantities of caffeine to stay awake throughout the challenge.
Kashyap Achar, a member of Hack to Death said, when he started the hackathon he had planned to sleep for an hour or two, but his dedication and passion allowed him to work through his fatigue.
“This year’s hackathon was a major success thanks to all of our amazing sponsors, participants, and volunteers,” said Nick Casey, a member of cuHacking.
Featured image by Madison Kylie.
