You need to Pay Here individually for the event through BYU Ticketing Office. - Tickets are $10 but starting after at 5:00 PM on Friday Oct 17th they go to $15.
Overview:
I-Hack 2025 is an exciting event open to all BYU-Idaho students—no matter your major or background! Whether you're into technology, design, business, communication, science, the arts, or anything in between, this is your chance to team up, learn something new, and put your creativity to the test.
Over the course of the hackathon, you'll collaborate with students from all across campus, attend hands-on workshops, hear from inspiring guest speakers, and connect with professionals and companies who are eager to meet passionate, innovative thinkers like you.
Join us for a full 24 hours of innovation, connection, and discovery—you might even find your next big idea or future career path!
About the Challenge:
Theme: Hack the Norm
We have four categories that student groups can enter:
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Entertainment:
- Description: This category celebrates creativity through projects designed to entertain, inspire, and connect with an audience. From video game development and musical composition to writing skits or producing short performances, students are invited to showcase their artistic talents across a wide range of mediums.
- Goals: Our goal is to encourage creative expression and interdisciplinary collaboration to produce experiences that delight, engage, and resonate with others. We aim to highlight the power of entertainment in building connection and community.
- Narrative: Entertainment brings people together. Whether through sound, story, or play, this category empowers students to craft memorable moments that inspire and delight.
-
Quality of Life:
- Description: This category focuses on practical solutions that enhance daily living—whether by simplifying routines, improving accessibility, or streamlining tasks. Projects can build upon existing tools or introduce new ideas, such as apps, browser extensions, or productivity enhancements.
- Goals:To inspire innovations that make everyday life more efficient, convenient, and enjoyable through thoughtful design and functionality.
- Narrative: Small improvements can make a big difference. By enhancing the tools and routines people use every day, this category encourages meaningful innovation that directly improves how we live, work, and interact with the world around us.
-
Human Progress:
- Description: This category challenges participants to develop bold, original ideas that drive innovation and push the boundaries of what’s possible. These projects should focus on entirely new creations that enhance personal efficiency and contribute to the advancement of society.
- Goals:To inspire breakthrough innovations that improve how we live, work, and solve complex problems—fueling progress on both an individual and global scale.
- Narrative:True progress begins with visionary thinking. This category empowers students to explore uncharted territory and create impactful tools or technologies that move humanity forward.
-
An IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Project :
- Description: This category invites students to explore the cutting edge of electrical and computer engineering through projects inspired by the mission and fields of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Whether you're working with hardware, software, or a blend of both, this is your opportunity to create a solution that reflects the principles of engineering innovation, ethical technology, and societal impact.
- Goals:To encourage projects that align with IEEE’s core areas—such as electronics, robotics, signal processing, renewable energy, embedded systems, AI, and telecommunications—while fostering hands-on learning and forward-thinking design.
- Narrative: Technology has the power to shape the future. The IEEE category challenges students to think like engineers: solving real-world problems with precision, creativity, and purpose. Whether you’re prototyping a smart device, optimizing an energy system, or building intelligent software, this category is your chance to apply engineering principles in meaningful, innovative ways.
Getting Started
This is an opportunity to learn your capabilities, new skills, working teams, and have a fun time.
- You need to register individually for the event through BYU Ticketing Office.
- You need to find or organize a team of 2-4 people, 4 max.
- Register yourself and your team at this site.
- Next you need to pick a category as a team.
- Then brainstorm a problem in that category.
- Finally begin to start a design of the solution to the problem.
You should not begin coding the solution in until 5PM on Oct 24th, and will finish the solution by Oct 25th at 5PM. You may gather concept of operations, requirements, designs, tools, and training before the 24th.
Code of Conduct:
All participates must ahere to the BYU-Idaho Ethical/Academic and Honor Code and The CSE Dress and Grooming Priciples and Expectations. Participates must follow the BYU-I AI use policy. All submissions must a follow the ACM Code of Ethics.
Requirements
What to Build:
At I-Hack 2025, your team will design and build a project that aligns with one of the three categories: Entertainment, Quality of Life, or Human Progress. Your creation can take many forms—a prototype, app, game, digital tool, interactive experience, or even a conceptual model with a clear implementation plan. The key is to focus on innovation, impact, and collaboration.
Your project should:
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Solve a real problem or explore a meaningful idea in one of the categories
-
Demonstrate creativity in design, functionality, or presentation
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Be built or significantly developed during the hackathon
-
Include a short pitch or demo to present your solution to judges and peers
Whether you're coding an app that helps students manage stress, designing a game that brings people together, or inventing a tool that reimagines the future of communication—this is your chance to build something bold, useful, and uniquely yours.
No matter your skill set, there's a place for you on a team. Bring your passion, your ideas, and your drive to create. We’ll provide the space, support, and inspiration—you bring the spark.
What to Submit:
How you got to the solution is just as important as the solution it self, along with the crafting. You should plan in your 24-hour schedule to complete the following:
- Video:
- As part of your submission, you will be providing a 5-minute video of your prototype product and how you made it. This will be in the form of an informational commercial, details will be provide during Saturday Morning’s workshop.
- Be sure plan on how you included the theme and category.
- Code:
- If you are submitting a non-technical project, please submit your slide deck + product pictures to github instead of source code.
- You will also be required to provide a link to your source code on GitHub, no other code repository will be accepted.
- Show that the product compiles and runs.
Prizes
1st Place Quality of Life
Description: This category focuses on practical solutions that enhance daily living—whether by simplifying routines, improving accessibility, or streamlining tasks. Projects can build upon existing tools or introduce new ideas, such as apps, browser extensions, or productivity enhancements.
Goals:To inspire innovations that make everyday life more efficient, convenient, and enjoyable through thoughtful design and functionality.
Narrative: Small improvements can make a big difference. By enhancing the tools and routines people use every day, this category encourages meaningful innovation that directly improves how we live, work, and interact with the world around us.
2nd Place Quality of Life
Description: This category focuses on practical solutions that enhance daily living—whether by simplifying routines, improving accessibility, or streamlining tasks. Projects can build upon existing tools or introduce new ideas, such as apps, browser extensions, or productivity enhancements.
Goals:To inspire innovations that make everyday life more efficient, convenient, and enjoyable through thoughtful design and functionality.
Narrative: Small improvements can make a big difference. By enhancing the tools and routines people use every day, this category encourages meaningful innovation that directly improves how we live, work, and interact with the world around us.
3rd Place Quality of Life
Description: This category focuses on practical solutions that enhance daily living—whether by simplifying routines, improving accessibility, or streamlining tasks. Projects can build upon existing tools or introduce new ideas, such as apps, browser extensions, or productivity enhancements.
Goals:To inspire innovations that make everyday life more efficient, convenient, and enjoyable through thoughtful design and functionality.
Narrative: Small improvements can make a big difference. By enhancing the tools and routines people use every day, this category encourages meaningful innovation that directly improves how we live, work, and interact with the world around us.
1st Place Entertainment
Description: This category celebrates creativity through projects designed to entertain, inspire, and connect with an audience. From video game development and musical composition to writing skits or producing short performances, students are invited to showcase their artistic talents across a wide range of mediums.
Goals: Our goal is to encourage creative expression and interdisciplinary collaboration to produce experiences that delight, engage, and resonate with others. We aim to highlight the power of entertainment in building connection and community.
Narrative: Entertainment brings people together. Whether through sound, story, or play, this category empowers students to craft memorable moments that inspire and delight.
2nd Place Entertainment
Description: This category celebrates creativity through projects designed to entertain, inspire, and connect with an audience. From video game development and musical composition to writing skits or producing short performances, students are invited to showcase their artistic talents across a wide range of mediums. Goals: Our goal is to encourage creative expression and interdisciplinary collaboration to produce experiences that delight, engage, and resonate with others. We aim to highlight the power of entertainment in building connection and community. Narrative: Entertainment brings people together. Whether through sound, story, or play, this category empowers students to craft memorable moments that inspire and delight.
3rd Place Entertainment
Description: This category celebrates creativity through projects designed to entertain, inspire, and connect with an audience. From video game development and musical composition to writing skits or producing short performances, students are invited to showcase their artistic talents across a wide range of mediums. Goals: Our goal is to encourage creative expression and interdisciplinary collaboration to produce experiences that delight, engage, and resonate with others. We aim to highlight the power of entertainment in building connection and community. Narrative: Entertainment brings people together. Whether through sound, story, or play, this category empowers students to craft memorable moments that inspire and delight.
1st Place Human Progression
Description: This category challenges participants to develop bold, original ideas that drive innovation and push the boundaries of what’s possible. These projects should focus on entirely new creations that enhance personal efficiency and contribute to the advancement of society.
Goals:To inspire breakthrough innovations that improve how we live, work, and solve complex problems—fueling progress on both an individual and global scale.
Narrative:True progress begins with visionary thinking. This category empowers students to explore uncharted territory and create impactful tools or technologies that move humanity forward.
2nd Place Human Progression
Description: This category challenges participants to develop bold, original ideas that drive innovation and push the boundaries of what’s possible. These projects should focus on entirely new creations that enhance personal efficiency and contribute to the advancement of society.
Goals:To inspire breakthrough innovations that improve how we live, work, and solve complex problems—fueling progress on both an individual and global scale.
Narrative:True progress begins with visionary thinking. This category empowers students to explore uncharted territory and create impactful tools or technologies that move humanity forward.
3rd Place Human Progression
Description: This category challenges participants to develop bold, original ideas that drive innovation and push the boundaries of what’s possible. These projects should focus on entirely new creations that enhance personal efficiency and contribute to the advancement of society.
Goals:To inspire breakthrough innovations that improve how we live, work, and solve complex problems—fueling progress on both an individual and global scale.
Narrative:True progress begins with visionary thinking. This category empowers students to explore uncharted territory and create impactful tools or technologies that move humanity forward.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
William Clements
BYU-Idaho CSE Department Computing Society iHack Team Advisor
Drew Curley
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
matthew morton
BYUI student
Carl Gibbons
Instructor, BYU-Idaho
Scott Gaylon Shumway
Computing Society President
Caeson Reckling
Senior Computer Guy
Raquel Miller
Gary Godderidsge
BYU Idaho
Russ Barnum
Teton County
Judging Criteria
-
Presentation
5 min. informational commercial -
Theme Relationship
Effort to dovetail the theme and the category to the problem and solution. 1. Little or no relation 2. Forced relation 3. Intuitively Relates 4. Builds on either 5. Bridges the gap -
Business Presentation
How well did the 5-minute video follow the info-commercial outline. 1. Presentation provided 2. Is a Commercial 3. Is an Informational Comm. 4. Demos a need 5. Impressive -
Working Product
Demonstration of working prototype. 1. Static Demonstration 2. Shows progress 3. Solves a problem 4. Deliverable 5. Workflow(multi-step solutions)
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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