F8 Refresh Hackathon winners announced

Thanks again to everyone who tuned in to the F8 Refresh Hackathon winners announcement over on our Facebook for Developers page earlier today!

Hackathons have always been a core part of F8.

I’ve been at Facebook for 12 years, and attended my first F8 in 2010 while I was an engineer on our developer platform team. That year, we came together to ideate and launch the Like Button that has been embedded across millions of websites.

The name of the F8 conference comes from our hack culture at Facebook. The “8“ in F8 is because we typically did 8 hour hackathons. These are at the heart of our company DNA, and still a key way that we tackle challenges and explore opportunities here at Facebook today.

In more ‘normal’ times, hackathons brought together innovators from around the world to connect and create software solutions in-person.

While we had to cancel the in-person component of F8 last year, we kept our hackathon tradition going with the industry-run #BuildforCOVID19 Global Online Hackathon and our series of Facebook Online Hackathons too.

Yet again, we couldn’t be together in-person this year, but we were still thrilled to have hosted another immersive, virtual hackathon as part of F8 Refresh!

Over a week in early May, we welcomed developers and creators to build and grow together using two Facebook products - Spark AR and Wit.ai - offering up to $100,000 US dollars in total cash prizes.

The Spark AR challenge asked creators to focus on ways that AR can be used for sharing - to help people express themselves and connect with communities.

While the Wit.ai challenge tasked developers with using voice to help customers simplify tasks and take their AR and VR solutions to the next level.

Since the hackathon, our judges have been reviewing the great submissions we received, and I’m thrilled to share the winners.

Spark AR

TRACK 1 WINNERS

First place (USD $10,000)

• Thought Bubbles from the USA - a dynamic bubble effect enabling users to express what’s on their mind

Second place (USD $7,500)

• Color Hair MV_Style from Taiwan - an effect using segmentation to change hair color

Third place (USD $5,000)

• Ninja Scroll from Russia - an effect inspired by Japanese anime

Honorable mentions (USD $1,000 each)

• Rock Tribute from the Netherlands
• Be a Hero from Chile, Peru and Argentina
• Call of Nature from Russia

TRACK 2 WINNERS

First place (USD $10,000)

• Wish into the Sky from Taiwan - a World AR effect enabling users to write a wish on a sky lantern, and watch it fly away into the sky

Second place (USD $7,500)

• Scoop it Up from Argentina, the Netherlands and the UK - an AR game encouraging users to be eco-friendly by cleaning up plastic waste on an island

Third place (USD $5,000)

• Escape the Lockdown from Austria - an AR ‘escape room’ game encouraging users to get vaccinated for COVID-19

Honorable mentions (USD $1,000 each)

• Thank you for your support from Thailand and Germany
• Puggy from Poland and Belarus

Wit.ai

TRACK 1 WINNERS

First place (USD $10,000)

• Jobcall from the USA - an AI-powered conversation experience that provides personal branding and creator tools for people without reliable internet access

Second place (USD $7,500)

• Pacify from Uganda - a mental health app that deploys Wit.ai to help people share their thoughts and feel heard using voice enablement

Third place (USD $5,000)

• Wit.ai Shopping Assistant from Canada - an AI-powered shopping assistant that helps shoppers find the products they need in retail stories while maintaining social distancing

Honorable mentions (USD $1,000 each)

• Vaccino from India
• Voice Book from India
• Voisell from Mexico and Colombia

TRACK 2 WINNERS

First place (USD $10,000)

• Face the Wall from Brazil - a combined AR/AI game built to help people take part in fun activities during group calls with friends

Second place (USD $7,500)

• Salsa con Lorenzo from México - a salsa dance teacher combining Web AR, VR and speech recognition via Wit.ai

Third place (USD $5,000)

• Battle of New York from Singapore - an AI-powered simulation of superheroes in action

Honorable mentions (USD $1,000 each)

• TeachAR from Venezuela and the USA
• AR Voice Controlled CAR from India

Huge congratulations to these Spark AR superstars and Wit.ai aficionados!

Our judges said that they’d never seen the bar raised so high - so thank you for bringing such adventurous thinking and amazing teamwork to the competition!

For those wanting to continue learning about, and integrating, Facebook products - there are plenty more opportunities coming your way.

Be sure to follow the Facebook for Developers page right to be the first to find out about the latest programs focusing on AR, AI and more - including Creator Days, Spark AR Labs and more cash-prize hackathons!

Thanks and congratulations again to all of the winners and participants!