Student Team Displays Computer Skills in Winning Annual Hackathon Contest
A team of Old Dominion students took top prize recently in the sixth annual Hackathon, a contest designed to test participants' skill in creating working computer programs and products, sponsored by Dominion Enterprises.
The event, held Oct. 3-4 in downtown Norfolk, gave competitors 36 hours to design one of six application programming interfaces (API), drawn randomly, to build prototype concepts for the company.
Nine teams of six members each took part in the competition. The ODU team - computer science majors Stanley Zheng, Lookmai Rattana, Jose Mateo and O'Dean Maye, and graphic art major Trisha Tobias and information technology major Benedict Cipcon - took the Hackathon Best in Show award for its Instacycle app.
The ODU team utilized existing apps Instagram and Gumby, combined with Dominion Enterprises' Nebulous API, to build an app that utilized Instagram pictures as a browsing experience, replacing existing stock model photos to create a new browsing experience for motorcycle enthusiasts.
In awarding Instacycle top prize, the judges stated that the ODU entry was also a strong contender in the other categories - Most Market-Ready, Most Innovative and Best Integration of APIs.
Other teams in the competition included Dominion Enterprises employees and community developers. A short promotional video about Hackathon, produced by Dominion Enterprises, can be seen HERE.
Members of the winning ODU team took home Nexus 7 tablets, $50 gift cards and a trophy, now on display in the university's computer science department.
Headquartered in Norfolk, Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the wide-ranging needs of many industries, including real estate, apartment, specialty vehicle, employment, automotive and travel.
Dominion is one of the largest providers of highly targeted classified advertising, with specialized brands such as For Rent, boats.com, The Employment Guide, homes.com and HotelCoupons.com, as well as a full complement of specialty vehicle titles including CycleTrader.com and Commercial Truck Trader.