48 Finalists out of hundreds of entrants came to New York City from across the country to receive $70,000 in cash and prizes. Over 50% of the entrants were women, while the average number of women who participate in hackathons is at a low 11%.
With over 400 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and students in attendance, Dream it. Code it. Win it. hosted a successful inaugural Create-A-Thon at The Cooper Union Great Hall.
People from over 45 different countries expressed an interest in Dream it. Code it. Win it., which was largely marketed using social media channels. The Facebook page hosted the
submission for the application, and with over one hundred applications on a global scale, there was an abundance of quality submissions from students all around the world.
“Hackathons and Create-A-Thons create excitement around computing because the emphasis is on teaming up with other people, sharing fun ideas, and then just making something. It shows people that computer science can be experimental, social, and fun!” – Teresa Dahlberg, Dean, Albert Nerken School of Engineering, Chief Academic Officer, The Cooper Union
Cristina Dolan, the founder of Dream it. Code it. Win it., has been honored by Traders Magazine with a Charitable Works Award for her work with Dream it. Code it. Win it. Traders Magazine celebrates accomplished women in Finance with its “Wall Street Women: A Celebration of Excellence” Awards every year.
Dolan, who started Dream it. Code it. Win it. in 2013, was responsible for creating and executing the contest, which awarded more than $70,000 to high school and college students for their work in Computer Science.
She plans to launch another contest in 2015. If you are interested in sponsorship or partnership opportunities, send an e-mail to info@dreamitcodeitwinit.org.
Updates from Winners of the Contest
David Taitz & Hikari Senju – Balloon – First Place $20,000
“Since DiWiCi, Balloon has used our prize to focus on the user experience of our mobile app and rebuild our former product from user feedback and data. We expanded our team considerably–taking on other bright college students who are as close to the problem we are trying to solve as we are.
After months of hard work, we have refocused Balloon to help get your friends together at a moment’s notice by cutting through the flakiness and noncommittal “maybes”. You choose the group and decide on the plan. Your friends receive personalized invitations that expire at an RSVP deadline set by you. Until then, Balloon sends them reminders to get you a quick response.
We published the redesign of the Balloon in the AppStore in July, and have been iterating quickly on user feedback to deploy improved versions on a weekly basis. Our usership is growing steadily, and even more importantly, we believe we are starting to prove some of our assumptions on user behavior in our data. We are extremely excited to officially launch at college campuses at the start of the semester and also release our first Android version.
We cannot thank DiWiCi, the MIT Enterprise Forum, the MIT Club of NYC, and TradingScreen enough for the help in moving Balloon forward.”
The Dream it. Code it. Win it. contest was featured on The Better Show’s Monday morning news segment on April 9th, 2014. Sarah Bernard interviewed some of the finalists and visionaries, including contest organizer Cristina Dolan, from the celebration on April 30th, 2014.
An area college student wins thousands of dollars for his innovative idea when it comes to searching the Internet.
The new search engine is called Oaddo. It was developed by JMU student, Tim Borny as part of his capstone project with the university. The idea earned him about $10,000 in prize money.
It was all part of the “Dream It. Code It. Win It.” competition sponsored by the MIT Club of New York.
What makes his search engine so innovative is the way it helps you look up content you never would even think to type into Google, Yahoo, or Bing when it comes to researching a subject.
Click here for detailed coverage.
Third Annual "Dream it. Code it. Win it." Contest 