Dates

  • 11/11/23 11:00am Check-in
  • 11/11/23 Noon Food Systems Challenge Begins
  • 11/12/23 9:00am Submission Deadline

Eligibility

  1. The team must consist of between 4 and 6 individuals of any discipline.
  2. Teams should be made up exclusively of college-level students who are not organizers, volunteers, judges, sponsors, or in any other privileged position at the event.
  3. All team members should be physically present on campus at NIU for the whole event. Leaving the venue for some time to hack elsewhere is not acceptable.
  4. Teams can of course gain advice and support from organizers, mentors, volunteers, sponsors, and others.
  5. Teams can use an idea they had before the event.
  6. Teams may consult online resources for information and are encouraged to do so.
  7. Teams must stop working once the time is up. The final project submission is on Sunday, November 12th at 9:00 a.m. Make sure to upload your project at least 15 minutes before the submission deadline.
  8. Teams can be disqualified from the competition at the organizers' discretion. Reasons might include but are not limited to breaking the competition rules or conducting other unsporting behavior.

Project and Submission Requirements

Submit a whitepaper:

  1. Idea Title (Should be short and sweet!)
  2. Introduction (Includes which path you took (urban vs rural setting) to addressing the Problem Statement)
  3. Background (What research did you find that lead you to your solution to the problem statement)
  4. Proposed solution and needs to implement your solution (This will be the bulk of your one-page paper)
  5. References or citations (This will be a page 2 of the whitepaper. There is no formal format required. The judges just want to know what resources you used. The sources will not be evaluated but will be reviewed to ensure originality of your idea).

Prizes

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Technical complexity (up to 20 points).

This category will take into consideration the viability of the team’s idea. How realistic is the solution that the team has come up with in context to the problem statement. The more challenging or complex the solution would be to implement the less viable it will be and the lower the score.

Innovation of design or idea/approach to problem (up to 40 points).

Here the judges will be looking at the potential impact the solution has. The greater the impact and the better the connection to the problem the higher the score. Originality and creativity will also play a role in the assignment of points to the team’s solution.

Polish/quality of execution (up to 20 points).

The section refers to the white paper submitted, does your solution make sense and is it free of fragmented thoughts and ideas. Does it answer the question of the problem statement, and have you cited any sources that you are using in the dissemination of your solution?

Presentation/idea pitch (up to 20 points)

This is in regard to the initial presentation to the judges. Each team will be given 3 minutes to present their idea and 1 minute for Q&A by the judges. Evaluation will be based on a timely presentation, a complete and succinct story that shows a collaborative effort in regards to the solution.