Hackathon judging: was NaijaHacks 2018 fair?
For a Hackathon, the selection process should be free, fair, and transparent. Everyone should have a fair chance to pitch and be heard. Additionally, the details and reasons for the winnings should be shared with all participants. Sadly, for NaijaHacks 2018, we were not clear or open enough about the Judging process and winning criteria. We did not communicate exactly how the teams were selected and we failed to livestream the results or highlight the criteria to participants in realtime on demo day. For this, we take responsibility and we will better for NaijaHacks 2019.
Over 96% of people who did not attend in 2018 will attend in 2019
Because the process was not shared with everyone on demo day or after then, we hope that this post will address how we selected the winners and address some concerns that we all have.
NaijaHacks Hackathon Judging Process
Firstly, the selection of top winners and top 5 teams was based entirely on the feedback from judges both onsite and remote. Teams were judged by pairwise comparison. For example, for each team a Judge sees, the app asks them to pick between the current team and the previous team. They pick the better team based on the judging criteria we set and shared with them. The judging app, Gavel developed at MIT, then does the magic of ranking the teams based on feedback. Additionally, teams are assigned to judges by the app in a way that ensures that all teams get a fair chance and are heard. Anish Athalye, one of the developers of the judging app shared detail about the judging algorithm and app. Please, check it out.
The selection was based entirely on the feedback from judges
The winner of each category was the top team from that category. Additionally, audience votes or votes from DevPost were not used in the selection process.
NaijaHacks Hackathon results
Without further ado, we are super excited to release the official standing of the top teams from NaijaHacks 2018.
Highlights from the 2018 NaijaHacks Hackathon Survey
NaijaHacks 2019
In the coming weeks/months, we will announce the official date for NaijaHacks 2019. #TeamNaijaHacks and the NaijaHacks Community (20 elected participants from NaijaHacks 2018) are working hard to get things ready for 2019. In keeping with the feedback we received, for 2019, we will underpromise to hopefully, over deliver.
See you at NaijaHacks 2019.
