HackAward is an NFT that captures and commemorates the journey of computer science students participating in hackathons. Beyond project results, hackathons are filled with intense collaboration, creativity, challenges, and moments of growth, which are something happening under the water but should never be ignored. HackAward NFTs recognize this journey, assigning ownership of hackathon projects to participants as a testament to their hard work and perseverance, making the growth more tangible, displayable, more memoriable. As a computer science student, when you finally find the job at your dream company, or founded the tech startup you thought you would never to, the growth behind, shows that you deserve what your succeeded.

How it works

Hackathon organizers mint HackAward NFTs in advance, making them available for participants to claim. Each participant’s contribution is quantified by the lines of code they write. The team member with the highest contribution will be awarded the NFT, which is then displayed on their profile as a badge of growth, regardless of whether the project wins.

HackAward represents both collaboration and individual achievement, recognizing effort, resilience, and skills honed during the hackathon.

Technical Implementation

HackAward combines onChainToolkit and VerbWire API to allow users to connect wallets, claim, and view NFTs directly on the platform. While the production version will use Base Blockchain for optimized gas fees and efficiency, the current test environment uses Base-Sepolia.

The project is built using Node.js and Next.js for the web application, with PostgreSQL to manage data. A Flask backend powers a custom VS Code extension that tracks contributions, enabling the fair distribution of NFTs based on code written by each participant.

HackAward redefines hackathon participation by commemorating the journey, growth, and contributions of every computer science student, creating a lasting symbol of their progress and achievements.