Hack the Change 2025
Hack the Change 2025 is a hybrid two-day for-charity hackathon with the mission of coding a better world together.
Nov 9, 2025
University of Calgary - ICT 102
Public
$10000
About the Challenge
Hack the Change aims to inspire students across Canada to leverage technology to enact social change. We’re looking for creative and innovative solutions to existing problems, with the goal of coding a better tomorrow.
RequirementsRequirements: Open to all Canadian students, at the university, college, or high school level. (Must be an accredited institution)
Prizes: 1st place - $5,000 CAD; 2nd place - $3,000; 3rd place - $2,000; All prizes will be split between students and the charities of their choice.
Judging Criteria
Judging Criteria - Idea
Does the product address the prompt? Does the product introduce a new/unique approach or perspective?
Judging Criteria - Effectiveness
Does the product function as intended? Does the product execute on its idea in a way that’s effective?
Judging Criteria - Technical Challenge
Is the implementation complex? Does the product feature different parts? Does the product use interesting concepts or technologies?
Judging Criteria - Presentation/Marketability
Does the team seem organized in their presentation/demo? Does the presentation engage the judges and have real-world marketability?
Judging Criteria - Design
Is the product aesthetically pleasing? Is the product easy to use? Does the design of the product elevate its function and original idea?
Judges
Andy Kalamaiko
ATB
Funke Ogunmefun
ATB
Harsohail Brar
Angellist
Gary Wu
Deltek
Sam Bao
ATB
Jada Li
ATB
Yashkumar Patel
ATB
Ratik Kapoor
Tesla
Oscar Wong
Figma
Tyler Lam
Warp
Previous Year's Winners
- 3rd Place
ReadBack
ReadBack serves to modernize the legal process, it is meant to help facilitate the communication gap between the two sides and help everyone remain on the same page. It is made to be used live during court hearings, to provide a live transcript with many accessibility features to everyone.
- 2023 Runner Up!
SustainaPals
SustainaPals provides a gamified educational platform 🎮 for educators to utilize in the teaching and fostering of values surrounding environmental conservation and sustainability 🍃 By completing lessons and quizzes, obtain in-game currency 💰 and achievements 🏆 to up your ranking and unlock items to customize your SustainaPal avatar! 👾 SustainaPals was built with SwiftUI and uses JSON files as its backend, allowing educators to easily customize and tailor their lessons and quizzes to their classrooms. 🏫
- 2024 Winner
ChangePod
A modular accessible IoT device and supporting webapps for promoting grassroots social justice and community feedback.
- 2023 Winner
Seed-Pod
Seedpod is an innovative solution with the goal of bringing about sustainable individual agriculture, integrating hardware, machine learning, and a full-stack website to help empower ordinary people to grow their own produce with minimal maintenance. It features smart auto-watering using Arduino and related sensors and detection of plant height using images from an ESP32 WebServer which are fed to AI computer vision. The interactive website includes gamification through an online leaderboard, competitive tasks, the ability for users to view nearby plants and swap them with each other, and intuitive UI. We hope to inspire the next generation of decentralized, personalized, and sustainable agriculture.
- 2024 Runner Up
PetPals
PetPals is an anonymous online platform designed to help users reflect on their emotions and connect with others in a supportive and uplifting environment. It allows users to: Express their feelings, view posts, and earn points
Thank you to our sponsors
Without their support, this event wouldn't have been possible
Benevity
Amazon Web Services
ATB
Schulich School of Engineering