IMPORTANT: Please register to the event on our website occhacks.com! You will be required to register on the website to participate before the event.

This event is also an IN-PERSON event. No submission will be accepted without checking in on location. Attendance is also required during judging.

 

Introducing OCCHacks

OCCHacks is the official hackathon hosted at Orange Coast College by IOTA XI. Participants will be challenged to build a project, whether a solution to a present issue or simply building for fun, within 30 hours to be presented. This hackathon hopes to push students, regardless of experience, to develop practical skills in technology, to build experience in designing and creating solutions, and network and collaborate with others!

OCCHacks will be a two-day in-person event, but it will NOT be an overnight event. This event will take place at the OCC Ballroom, the conference room on the 3rd floor of the college center. Participants will be able to continue working overnight. More info can be found on the hackathon website. Further questions can be answered on our discord.

Beginners Welcome!

This is a beginner friendly hackathon designed to allow new programmers to develop and grow practical and technical skills. Those without teammates can form teams on day one of the hackathon. Don't be discouraged to apply! Join the discord if you have questions or to form teams.

Join the discord!

Requirements

Project Requirements

You (and your team) must build a project within a 30 hour timeframe. All projects must work and fall under one of three tracks:

  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Productivity and Utility

Projects can only participate in one track regardless of which are applicable. Judgment will be heavily based on creativity, technical complexity, and functionality with more emphasis on innovative and creative solutions.

Submission Requirements

All projects must be done within the timeframe and submitted on Devpost by 3:30 PM on Sunday, October 11th. Late submissions will not be considered, so please be aware of the timing.

Within the submission, you must include:

  • A link to GitHub repository
  • Proof of working project (demo screenshot or video)
  • A brief summary of the project must be included (e.g. purpose and function)
  • A list of all team members

IMPORTANT FOR WHEN YOU ARE SUBMITTING:

  • Assign one person as the one who will invite all teammates and submit the project.
  • "Project tagline" is NOT your "brief summary" requirement; treat this portion as it's stated, "an elevator pitch"
  • "About the project" is where you will write your summary. Please write the summary in one paragraph; use the first three pre-given topics as a guide on what to write. There isn't a strict limit or minimum, but please keep it brief.
  • There will be two places to link your repo; the one in the "Project Details" tab ("Try it out links") is optional as it will be shown publicly on your project page, but the other will be required.
  • Add your proof(s) of working project in the image gallery; video demo is optional (keep it short).

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$2,000 in prizes
Overall Winner
$250 in cash
1 winner

Overall Winner of OCCHack 2026

Category Winners
$500 in cash
3 winners

Best Projects of Each Track

LeetCode Champion
$250 in cash
1 winner

Champion of the LeetCode Challenge

(there will be three winners of this prize listed here)
1st Place - $150
2nd Place - $75
3rd Place - $25

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

IOTA XI

IOTA XI

Judging Criteria

  • Technical Complexity
    Complexity is based on how effectively, efficiently, and cleanly your program uses frameworks, APIs, and libraries, especially how they are interconnected. Judgment will focus on how you have implemented your resources.
  • Creativity
    Innovation is a reflection of creativity and originality. Ideas that are new and fresh and solutions that are different and clever can become influential. Judgment will focus on the purpose of your project and how you tackle technical problems.
  • Functionality
    An effective project with an intuitive design is imperative to its functionality, allowing users to smoothly understand its function and efficiency. Judgment will be based on how well your program performs and the simplicity of the user interface.
  • Presentation
    Presentation is a necessary skill in the industry, performing a solution strong enough to efficiently solve a problem. Judgment will focus on you and your teams ability to confidently and effectively demo your project.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

Invite others to compete

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.