About 120 coders, hackers, and software developers from around the region gathered at Galvanize in Denver on a sunny Saturday morning for the very first Google GovDev Challenge, a two-day live coding competition. The Google GovDev Challenge was created with the intent to improve citizen service, as well as to find creative solutions to challenges faced by state agencies. Winning teams took home up to $5,000 in awards.

On the first day of coding, participating partners, the State of Colorado and the State of Wyoming, presented the following three challenges to coders:

Challenge 1: Disaster Assistance Center Automation
Sponsoring agency: State of Colorado

Challenge 2: Disaster Assistance Center Materials Management
Sponsoring agency: State of Colorado

Challenge 3: Budget Data Transparency
Sponsoring agency: State of Wyoming

Participating coders had 24 hours to create solutions to the three challenges. Each challenge was judged based on the following categories:

• How well it solves the challenge (40%)
• Originality of the idea (20%)
• Technical merit (20%)
• Use of Google tools (20%)

Through the duration of the challenge, OnSight worked with Google and event partners and provided media relations consulting for the event. OnSight helped arrange and foster a partnership with Denver’s 9News that provided media coverage throughout the first-ever Google GovDev Challenge.

Here are a few clips of event coverage:

The Denver Post: Hackathons: Giving back to the community, one line of code at a time
Civic hackathons, popping up more frequently over the past couple of years, are turning into the geek’s way of giving back to the community.

Google partnered with Colorado and Wyoming a week ago to host a hackfest in Denver, where about 150 software developers hunkered down for a marathon, 24-hour coding session.

Participants ranged from hobbyists to partners at tech companies.

Their mission? To create solutions for challenges facing local and state governments.

KUSA-TV (9News): Coders challenged to create disaster app

KUSA – It’s a challenge to computer coders everywhere.

In Denver 150 of the country’s best software programmers are battling it out to create an internet app.

9NEWS reporter Eric Egan takes you into the world of a Google hack-a-thon in the video above.

 

Fremont County Radio: Wyoming Developers Win 1st, 2nd & 3rd Places at First Ever Google GovDev Competition

Lander, WY, May 21, 2014: Approximately 28 professional development teams from across Wyoming and Colorado gathered to participate in the opportunity to win up to $5000 from Google. Code Rangers, a Wyoming team made up of Wyolution co-owners Jared Kail and Mark Thoney, Sheridan Programmers Guild Owner, Anne Gunn, and Gannett Peak Technical Services Owner, Tighe Fagan won first place, and Gannett Peak Technical Services owner Ryan Fagan’s team, Auditor Search, won third place in the Wyoming Sponsored Category: Budget Data Transparency Challenge. Second place was given to Speed Goats, a Wyoming team made up of Lee Pepper of County 10 and Pitchengine, Jordan Dean, Marshall Moore, Shawn Becker and Jonathan Barella in the Colorado Sponsored Category: Disaster Assistance Center Materials Management.

According to govdevchallenge.com, software developers were given 24-hours to code and find creative solutions to challenges faced by government agencies in Colorado and Wyoming. Participants needed to make use of at least one Google tool in the final project. The competition offered one Wyoming challenge and two Colorado challenges for developers to take-on. Wyoming’s challenge was Budget Data Transparency, and the two Colorado challenges were Disaster Assistance Center Automation, and Disaster Assistance Center Materials Management.

 

County 10: Two Lander men among top placers in last weekend’s coding challenge in Denver

(Denver, Colo.) – Two Lander men, including one of County10′s own developers, took top spots in last weekend’s Google GovDev Challenge. The event brought computer coders from across Colorado and Wyoming to compete in a 24-hour coding contest, which was sponsored by both states.

County10′s Lee Pepper, as part of the Speed Goats team, took second place in the Disaster Assistance Center Automation challenge sponsored by the State of Colorado. Twelve teams participated in that challenge.

 

GovTech.com: Google’s GovDev Challenge Provides Real Solutions for Government

On May 18, Google wrapped up its first GovDev challenge, a 24-hour hackathon that challenged local software developers and entrepreneurs to solve problems facing state agencies in Colorado and Wyoming. More than 100 developers joined with government workers, community groups and organizers in Denver for the event, and when the coding was done, nine teams were awarded cash prizes. Officials said the event was a success because it produced software they may ultimately use in their businesses, it sparked new relationships between government and the public, and it gave their agencies new ideas on how to work.

At the start of the event, three challenges were announced, two for Colorado and one for Wyoming, and teams and individuals selected a challenge and began working.