7th ACM-W National Level Hackathon

ACM-W supports, celebrates, and advocates internationally for full engagement of women in all
aspects of the computing field, providing a wide range of programs and services to ACM members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women.

The 7th ACM-W National Hackathon was steered by the Padre Conceicao College of Engineering (PCCE) ACM Student Chapter in collaboration with ACM Goa Chapter and ACM India. The event was hosted at PCCE, Verna, Goa on the 14th and 15th October 2022 and was sponsored by ACM India. The theme chosen for the hackathon was ‘India in 2050’.

The ACM-W Hackathon comprised of three rounds as follows:
Round 1: The participants submitted their project proposal and screenshots of demo prototype.More than 100 teams form all over the country registered for this round, where each team comprised of 3 students and a faculty mentor.

Round 2: Twenty teams were shortlisted for a Google Meet discussion with the judges. The top ten teams from round 2 were selected for the on-site Final Round which was held at PCCE, Verna, Goa.

Final Round: The final round of ACM-W Hackathon was inaugurated on 14th October 2022. The dignitaries for the event were Dr Heena Timani, ACM-W India Chairperson, Dr. Rutvi Shah, ACM-W India Treasurer, Mrs. Maria Choudhary, ACM Goa Chairperson, Dr. Mahesh Parrapagaudar, Principal, PCCE, Rev. Fr. Agnelo Gomes, Director, PCCE and Prof. Ramrao Wagh, Professor, Goa University. Dr. Heena Timani was the Chief Guest and Dr. Rutvi Shah was the Guest of Honour. Each of the dignitaries addressed the audience and motivated the participants.

The final round entailed 3 sub-rounds. The problem statements were announced on the spot, and the participants were given 24 hours to build the product.
• Sub-Round 1 was the idea selection round which started at 10:00 am on day 1. The teams were explained the rules and regulations of the hackathon, and the sub-categories were disclosed. This round required each team to fill up a document explaining their problem statement. The enthusiastic participants began by selecting the problem statement based on the sub-category chosen and finalized the project topic with the help of their mentors. The submission of the problem statement was done after 2 hours. This was followed by a judging round where each team was briefly cross-examined and were provided feedback for improvement.
• Sub-round 2 was where the teams started implementing their projects. Judging for this sub-round took place at 5:30 pm on day 1. The judges provided feedback and gave directions to develop effective and innovative solutions.
• Sub-round 3 went on overnight as the participants continued coding to develop their projects. Plagiarism checks were done periodically to check for originality of work.

The final round of judging began at 10:15 am on day 2 where the teams presented their project. They also submitted videos and a power point presentation of their projects. The teams were judged based on innovativeness, feasibility, depth of understanding and completeness. The final round of judging ended at around 1:30 pm.

Expert Talks
The Final Round of the ACM-W Hackathon was followed by expert talks by Dr. Heena Timani
and Dr. Venkatanareshbabu Kuppili, Assistant Professor, NIT Goa.
Valedictory Function
The Valedictory Function began post lunch at 3:30 pm. Judges were requested to give their feedback
to the participants regarding their projects. This was followed by distributing mementos to the panel
of judges and the invited mentors. The following teams were declared as winners:

First prize: College: RMK College of Engineering and Technology, Tamil Nadu
Participants: Ms. Monisha S, Ms. Lesy Larisha Mary L and Ms. Nandhini D

Second prize:College: Indian Institute of Technology Mandi
Participants: Ms. Sweety Agarwal, Ms. Khusboo and Ms. Jain Hiya Sudhir

Third prize:College: SNN College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu
Participants: Ms. Tejaswi S and Ms. Ananya Prabhu

The event concluded with a vote of thanks on a positive note.

Report submitted by:

ORGANIZING TEAM

1. Ms. Louella M. Colaco (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Computer Engineering)
2. Ms. Ravina Quadros (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Information Technology)
3. Ms. Meghana Pai Kane (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Computer Engineering)