The Moonhack dust has settled — a review of Moonhack 2023
What an amazing year it has been for Code Club Australia’s annual coding challenge. This year we have broken some of our records, watched in amazement at the events that have taken place all around the world, and are excited to work with our judges in the coming week to decide on a winner for each of the project categories.
In the past 8 years over 230 000 kids have engaged in coding through Moonhack projects, this year having a record 44 612 registrations, the biggest year yet! And we are so proud to share that 47% of participants were girls!
The registration process took place 6 weeks before our Moonhack event started on October 10th. During this time, we saw an unprecedented number of parents register their children to take part. It was wonderful to watch online as families shared their coding experiences, learning alongside their children. It was also great to see people trying coding for the first time with Moonhack projects!
Preparations for Moonhack this year would not have been as smooth if it wasn’t for the help from our tester clubs. We had coders from all across Australia test our projects and provide feedback before they were finalised and shared with our volunteer network, who completed 82 project translations (a record number) in 22 different languages (another record)! These coders have formed part of the judging panel for this year.
When Moonhack lift-off took place, we excitedly watched clubs and schools around the world host events, complete projects, and work collaboratively. And as everyone started taking part, submissions started to roll in. We still have a week left to get submissions sent through, however, you can find a select few featured on the Moonhack website, and also see a collection of unique and innovative Moonhack projects in our Scratch Studio.
This year our top registration numbers came from Australia, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and India.
It was really exciting to get a submission from a Canadian Club who used the Constellation project as part of a larger community engagement day in their local park. They have been inspired by the project and are hoping to raise money to travel to Australia for Moonhack 2024, which will be their fourth Moonhack.
At Moonhack Mission Control we have been watching the data on each of the projects and there has been a clear favourite this year. Space Shoes has had more views and remixes on Scratch, and more downloads from the website, than any other project.
This year we trialed a new style of project, Space Junk. In this project, young coders were given a topic and a starting point to create their own digital solution. We have had some amazing entries! The prize for this project, open to coders all around the world, is to have their project turned into a Code Club Australia project. There is still time to submit your project! The submissions porthole closes at 5pm AEST November 26.
Thank you to everyone who has joined in the fun this year! We are so proud of the Moonhack challenge, and we thank every volunteer, educator, and coder who made the challenge great. If you haven’t yet, make sure you subscribe to the Moonhack newsletter so you will be the first to know about Moonhack 2024 when planning begins.
Happy coding!
Kaye North
Moonhack Mission Control
