This years’ #GirlCodeHack promises to be the biggest yet, with a total of R300 000 in prizes to be won – all participants stand a real chance to win something over the course of the weekend.
The grand prize for the event, taking place from 5 to 6 August, will be a trip for the winning team to the Grace Hopper Celebration in the US, courtesy of Standard Bank.
The Grace Hopper Celebration is an annual event produced by the Anita Borg Institute and in partnership with ACM, designed to celebrate Women in Computing and is the world’s largest gathering of women technologists.
Keynote speakers at the Grace Hopper Celebration include Melinda Gates, Dr Ayanna Howard, Dr Fei-Fei Li and Debbie Sterlig.
“As Standard Bank we are proud to be associated with initiatives that change the narrative on the opportunities available to young women,” says Jayshree Naidoo, head of the Standard Bank Incubator. “These programmes help us to grow and nurture talented individuals for the future world of work and get them to their next.
“Over the past year we have engaged in several programs designed to promote a focus on woman in technology and the Grace Hopper Trip for girls is another avenue for us to do this.”
Participants in this years’ Hackathon will need to make sure they have their passports at the ready as the conference takes place from 4-6 October. The winning team will be encouraged to write blogs and post updates each day to share with the broader GirlCode network thereby ensuring that the incredible insights and inspirational stories make their way back to their peers in South Africa.
Over and above the grand prize, participants will be vying for second and third place spots and the chance to win several educational and data bundles courtesy of MTN.
Throughout the weekend, there will be also be a social media competition and spot prizes where participants have the chance to win google headsets and tickets to rAge among other prizes.
“We have been overwhelmed by corporate support this year,” says Zandile Keebine, Girlcode chairwoman. “We want the Hackathon to be more than women in tech getting together over a weekend; we want the girls to feel empowered after the event. The prizes on offer from Standard Bank and MTN are all designed to do just that.”
The event will take place at Tshimologong Precinct in celebration of Women’s month. The objective of the Hackathon is to provide young girls, eager to join the software industry with an opportunity to develop some of the real-world skills they need to enter the business environment. As such, this years’ Hackathon will require the participants to develop a solution within one of the following category areas; e-government, gamification, multi-channel retail, social welfare and productivity.
Further corporate support for this years’ event includes platinum sponsor Entelect Software and Ericsson.
