Hackathon

Hyderabad: HackPrix Season 3, billed as Hyderabad's first and India's second-ranked 36-hour hackathon, concluded its marathon coding sprint at Lords Institute of Engineering and Technology (LIET), drawing over 550 students and innovators from 150 teams across 25 states, along with several international participants. The event received 3,500 registrations, organisers told Siasat.com, reflecting a significant surge in interest from the student and tech communities. Major names associate with event The hackathon was backed by a clutch of industry and academic partners. Major League Hacking (MLH) served as the official event partner, while Sarvam AI came on board as the artificial intelligence (AI) partner. Gemini, ElevenLabs and SCODE contributed as ecosystem and in-kind partners. Logitech, Masters' Union, Adept Overseas Education and Lords Skill Academy participated as gold partners, providing resources, mentorship and opportunities to participants. Six tracks, real-world problems Unlike many hackathons that limit participants to open innovation, HackPrix Season 3 offered six distinct tracks — internet of things (IoT), generative AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, sustainable development and sponsor-specific problem statements. The sustainable development track, a fixture since Season 1, continued to draw participants working on practical, real-world solutions, organisers told Siasat.com. Sponsor tracks gave teams the opportunity to work on industry-defined problem statements while competing for cash prizes and merchandise. To ensure participants were prepared for the 36-hour grind, organisers also conducted a series of pre-hackathon events to help students build the skills needed to tackle real-world challenges within the competition window. A launchpad, not just a hackathon Organisers described HackPrix as having grown beyond a conventional coding contest. "HackPrix is not just a hackathon — it has evolved into a legitimate launchpad, where participants can experiment and test their ideas," they said, adding that past editions had seen students secure startup funding and scale their ideas into real-world ventures. Projects will be evaluated using MLH's professional judging guidelines. Teams are expected to explain what their project does, how it works, the problem it addresses and the innovation it offers. Judges will assess each solution on overall quality, impact, implementation and creativity before arriving at final scores. Winners are yet to be declared. Shortlisted projects are currently undergoing a final community review and code verification process to ensure originality, fairness and transparency, after which winners will be chosen from a prize pool of Rs 3 lakh. Prize pot increased Syed Tanvir Ahmed, Joint Secretary of Lords Institute of Engineering and Technology, said HackPrix Season 3 witnessed strong growth compared to previous editions, with increasing numbers in registrations from around 2,200 to 3,500 this year, including participants from outside India. He also noted that he prize pool was increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, highlighting the growing scale of the event. Ahmed said the winners are yet to be finalised as the evaluation process is still underway. considering the prize pool and the international nature of the competition, organisers are conducting a detailed screening and verification process to ensure fairness, he added. He also said that one shortlisted team was disqualified after being found cheating, further emphasising the need for thorough scrutiny before announcing the results. Calling HackPrix as the institution's flagship innovation event, Ahmed said it helps students gaining exposure to hackathon culture. He added that several students who participated in previous editions have gone on to perform well in national-level hackathons organised by the institutions such as IIT Roorkee, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay. He added that with the right guidance and skills, students can leverage emerging technologies like AI to solve real-world problems, and the institution plans to further expand HackPrix in the coming years.

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