<h2 class="heading-node">About Campus to Colosseum Hackathon</h2>This 2-week hackathon challenges students to ideate, build, and present functional Solana Blockchain projects with real-world applications. Participants will develop highly transferable skills including full-stack development, UI/UX design, problem-solving, team collaboration, and pitching. This hackathon will help your team prepare for the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="link" href="https://www.colosseum.com/">colosseum.com</a> hackathon later in the spring, a worldwide event with huge prize pools to jump-start your career.<h2 class="heading-node">Mission</h2>Build and present a functional Solana blockchain project with real-world applications as part of the Campus to Colosseum hackathon, preparing for the larger Colosseum hackathon.<h2 class="heading-node">Scope Detail</h2><ul class="list-node"><li>Students must ideate, build, and present a functional Solana blockchain project.</li><li>Projects should have real-world applications.</li><li>Participants will develop skills in full-stack development, UI/UX design, problem-solving, team collaboration, and pitching.</li><li>Your team must be a member of a North East, UK university or university society (Teeside, Sunderland, Newcastle, and Durham).</li><li>Non-university members must collaborate with and support a university team.</li><li>Teams can focus on one of five tracks:<ul class="list-node"><li>Consumer Applications: Blinks, DApps, NFTs, Mobile, Gaming, Web3 Social</li><li>Financial Systems: DeFi, ReFi</li><li>Infrastructure: DePIN, Dev Tools, Scaling Solutions</li><li>Governance: DAOs, Voting Systems</li><li>Frontier Tech: AI + Blockchain Integration</li></ul></li></ul><h2 class="heading-node">Submission Requirements</h2><ul class="list-node"><li>Project must be a functional Solana blockchain application.</li><li>Presentation of the project is required.</li><li>Teams must adhere to the eligibility criteria regarding university affiliation.</li><li>Submission deadline is March 20th.</li></ul><h2 class="heading-node">Judging Criteria</h2><ul class="list-node"><li>Functionality: How well does the project work?</li><li>Real-world Application: Does the project solve a real problem or provide clear utility?</li><li>Innovation: How creative and original is the solution?</li><li>Technical Implementation: Quality of code and use of Solana features.</li><li>Presentation: Clarity and effectiveness of the team's pitch and demo.</li></ul><h2 class="heading-node">Resources</h2><ul class="list-node"><li>The hackathon helps prepare for the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="link" href="https://www.colosseum.com/">colosseum.com</a> hackathon later in the spring.</li><li>Campus to Colosseum Special Events:<ul class="list-node"><li>Kick off - ASTRX Lab Gateshead - March 9th - 10 AM to 3 PM<ul class="list-node"><li>Israel Egede - TBC</li><li>Kai Pitt-Richardson - Build to solve your own problems first</li><li>Geoff Trotter - Is your business Restorative and Replenishing?</li></ul></li><li>Half way - One Strawberry Lane - March 13th - 10 AM to 3 PM<ul class="list-node"><li>Ian Griffiths - Shipping at speed as a solo vibe coder</li><li>Saeed Taha - TBC</li><li>Josh Robson - TBC</li></ul></li><li>Submission day - One Strawberry Lane - March 20th - 10 AM to 3 PM<ul class="list-node"><li>John Onuh - TBC</li><li>Dan Noakes - TBC</li><li>Aman Sharma - Plan your routes to market strategy the right way.</li></ul></li></ul></li><li>Campus to Colosseum Mentors:<ul class="list-node"><li>Israel Egede - Student and 1st year tech founder on the startup journey</li><li>Kai Pitt-Richardson - Marketer and tech strategist with multiple businesses</li><li>Saeed Taha - Crypto dev and underground builder making bank</li><li>John Onuh - Physicist come data scientist building on Solana</li><li>Dan Noakes - Commercialisation strategist changing the world's supply chains</li><li>Aman Sharma - Investor and entrepreneur with a track record in creative tech businesses</li><li>Ian Griffiths - Investor and Tech founder with exits, going again with a new startup</li><li>Josh Robson - Dev house CEO and founder of blockchain and sports applications</li><li>Geoff Trotter - From LA to Hong Kong, business leader and coach</li></ul></li><li>Calendar for special events: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="link" href="https://luma.com/calendar/cal-bqbcDigSC39ReFA">https://luma.com/calendar/cal-bqbcDigSC39ReFA</a></li></ul><h2 class="heading-node">Reward Structure</h2><ul class="list-node"><li>1st Place: 500 USDG</li><li>2nd Place: 300 USDG</li><li>3rd Place: 200 USDG</li></ul>