Call For Code is a rallying cry to developers to use their skills and mastery of the latest technologies, and to create new ones, to drive positive and long-lasting change across the world with their code.

IBM has partnered with Topcoder to help drive new solutions as part of this global hackathon initiative! The topic is important. The prizes are big. And, the rules are simple.

Hackathon Focus

This year’s Call for Code Challenge theme is natural disaster preparedness and relief. This hackathon is seeking solutions in 4 distinct categories that will need your creativity and skill! Each category has it’s own Topcoder challenge link below so you can register for one or all of the ongoing challenges.

The categories are:

Blockchain
Watson AI Services
Watson Services (non-AI) - all other Watson services including items such as weather.com
Wildcard (Build whatever you like)

You are permitted to submit as many unique solutions as you’d like and we leave it to you to decide what category your solution best fits into. Each category has a separate Topcoder challenge link you can see below.

Topcoder Natural Disaster Hackathon - Blockchain
Topcoder Natural Disaster Hackathon - Watson AI Services
Topcoder Natural Disaster Hackathon - Watson Services Non-AI
Topcoder Natural Disaster Hackathon - Wildcard

Prizes

Each category has a prize pool of $11,250 for a total of $45,000 in prizes. The prize structure is the same for each category listed above and remember you are allowed to submit unique submissions into different categories. Please do not submit the same solution into multiple categories.

Early Submission Bonus:
We have created an incentive for early submissions, so please read the details carefully.

In each category: The first 20 submissions that pass screening will automatically win $100. Remember, these must pass screening to qualify.

In each category: One (1) submission, after the 20th submission, will be chosen at random. That winner will receive $50.

In each category the following prizes will be rewarded for the best submissions:

First Prize - $5,000
Second Prize - $3,000
Third Prize - $1,000
4th Prize - $200

You Can Win Twice!!!

In addition to the prizes listed above, every passing submission will also be entered into the global Call For Code challenge where you’ll have the opportunity for global recognition and additional prizes and prize money. This will happen for you automatically and requires no additional steps for you to take to be entered into the global Call for Code challenge.

After registering for one or more of the categories listed above you’ll see a full hackathon specification and links to many useful resources, data sets and more! But here’s the short version:

Rules

Simple. Build what you believe is a useful app or solution that helps humanity better prepare for natural disasters or better serve those affected by them. You can create any application / software solution that uses IBM Cloud Services (i.e. utilizing IBM Cloud Services is a hard requirement), and fits into the hackathon theme.

Teams

Teaming is allowed. This is completely up to you. If you want to work with someone or a small group, you can! This is NOT a requirement, only an option for you. PLEASE SEE details regarding teaming on the challenge specification.

Timeline

Submissions are due Sept. 23rd 2018, 11:59PM Eastern Time - so get going right now!