[mrflett]

I attended the hackathon and was a little disappointed that all the prizes went basically to teams who rubbed up the sponsors in the right way. Obviously the sponsors were there to promote themselves but rewards should have been given to innovation and not just how many api's from the sponsors you can mash into an app.

[minimaxir]

At the Disrupt SF 2012 hackathon, one submission managed to create a Hello World-esque app...using literally every sponsor's API. The emcee commented that he was "hedging his API bets."

[melvinmt]

I'm afraid that this is how the $1 million Salesforce hackathon will end up going to be. Given how 25% of the judging criteria is the "Use of Salesforce Platform".

[k-mcgrady]

I'm not aware of the event but if it is a Salesforce hackathon (i.e. they are running it) doesn't it make sense you get points for innovative use of their platform? If they are just a sponsor I can understand frustration.

[austinhutch]

This is exactly how the Disrupt SF Hackathon went IMO. Sponsors doled out hefty prizes for including the use of their respective APIs in a hack. With the addition of teams receiving passes to attend the event by participating, it led to a 5 hour showcase that was mostly comprised of variations on a familiar theme. Lots of, "Shopping app with instagram like filters" and other mishmashes of APIs with no critical thought applied. Really a bummer.

[lnanek2]

It was nice having an easy target to win a sponsor prize, though. I know I got a whole extra app written with the eLance winnings from that event. :) Wasn't even trying or expecting for anything to happen on the winning overall front since I was the only coder on my team.

[minimaxir]

There's a game theory element though. If everyone is going for the same sponsorship prize, the odds of winning become more difficult.