Welcome to the AWS x CS Careers Hackathon, hosted by CS Careers at Virginia Tech! Join us at Goodwin Hall on March 28th for a full-day, in-person hackathon where you'll have 10 hours (10am–8pm) to ideate, build, and showcase a project from scratch alongside fellow Hokies using the Kiro IDE. All projects will be judged on a 60-point rubric across six categories: Technical Execution, Innovation, Design & UX, Impact & Storytelling, AI Integration, and Social Good.

Leading up to the hackathon, we'll be hosting two workshops on March 27th at Data & Decision Sciences, including:

• Agentic Development with Kiro
• Using AI in Professionalism

During the hackathon, every competitor will receive Kiro Credits, and AWS representatives will be on-site for networking, brainstorming, and debugging throughout the day. Attendance is capped at 200 Virginia Tech students, so spots are limited. Build something that matters, we'll see you in Goodwin!

• Scoring
  Innovation (10pts), Social Good (12pts), Impact & Storytelling (10pts), AI Integration (12pts), Technical Execution (8pts), Design & UI/UX (8pts)
• Innovation
  How creative and original is the idea, did the team find a unique niche or combine technologies in a surprising way?
• Social Good
  Does the project target a specific, documented social issue for a community in need, with genuine consideration for accessibility, equity, and a realistic path to adoption?
• Impact & Storytelling
  Does the project solve a real, clearly defined problem, and was there a compelling pitch that shows who benefits and how it could scale beyond the hackathon?
• AI Integration
  Is AI the a vital component of the project? With thoughtful prompt design, model selection, custom pipelines, etc. Rather than a single API call as an afterthought?
• Technical Execution
  Does the project actually work, and did the team go beyond a basic app implementation by integrating multiple systems, handling real data, or writing custom logic?
• Design & UI/UX
  Can a stranger pick it up and use it without explanation, and does the interface feel polished and intentional?