Hello, dear DEV community!

If you've been a member of our community for a while now, chances are, you've witnessed a handful of hackathons on DEV — and maybe even participated in one yourself. Today, we're excited to share a brand new type of opportunity to use your skills, create something amazing, and win cool prizes in the process.

From today (March 10, 2022) through April 11, 2022 @ 11:59 PM UTC, Deepgram is inviting members of the DEV Community to submit a project for our joint hackathon in exchange for some great prizes and recognition.

The catch?

Our contest co-host and sponsor, Deepgram, is encouraging participants to use many different types of creativity and talent in a way that's unlike anything we've done on DEV before. So, whether you're looking to build an application, use your writing skills, or simply champion other participants, the Deepgram x DEV Community hackathon has something for you.

The magic is in the details, so let's jump right into it.

What is Deepgram?

Voice is the most common way we communicate, and yet, as developers, it can be hard to get meaningful data. That's where Deepgram comes in.

Deepgram is a speech-to-text (STT) company whose API takes an audio file or audio stream and converts it into written text, providing a transcript and other information about the transcribed data. With their revolutionary end-to-end, Deep Learning technology that includes language support, Deepgram makes sure that every voice is heard and understood by providing fast and accurate transcripts.

Deepgram Follow

We believe that every voice deserves to be heard and understood. That's why we built a Speech-to-Text API based on deep learning and AI. Give it a try at https://dpgr.am/devbio

Hackathon Challenges & Rules

For this contest, we are offering two different types of challenges to appeal to different interests and skill sets...

"Build" Challenge:

Select a category below and follow its theme to build, add on to, or upgrade an existing project using Deepgram and share the story of their process.

• Create a Deepgram account, or use your existing one
• Create a DEV account
• Select one of the following four categories:

• Accessibility Advocates: Use Deepgram to improve user accessibility. Think about user input, accessing media or live events, and improving understanding.
• Analytics Ambassadors: Use Deepgram to analyze one or many pieces of audio. You may analyze a single call to help understand what happened or analyze hundreds of media files all at once.
• Gram Gamers: Use Deepgram in a game. You may build an entirely voice or text-based game, a 2D or 3D game, or more novel playable experiences.
• Wacky Wildcards: If it doesn’t fit into the categories above, Build an app using Deepgram that's totally out-of-the-box, random, and fun.

• Use this template to create your submission post. Provide URLs, screenshots, a description, source code, etc. Note: If you are not logged into an account on DEV, you won't be able to see this template.
• Share your submission on DEV by April 11, 2022 @ 11:59 PM UTC

"Innovative Ideas" Challenge

Deepgram is also offering a challenge that doesn't require you to build an application. Instead, the "Innovative Ideas" challenge invites you to come up with an interesting use-case for Deepgram and tell us all about it! Your submission will cover the big ideas and story of what you've come up with and any mock-ups you've created in a thoughtful blog post.

• Create a DEV account
• Use this template to guide your "Innovative Ideas" challenge submission, including all requirements mentioned. Note: If you are not logged into an account on DEV, you won't be able to see this template.
• Share your submission on DEV by April 11, 2022 @ 11:59 PM UTC

Community Engagement Challenge

For the first time ever, we are also inviting both hackathon participants and DEV Community Members who are cheering them on from the sidelines to earn limited-edition badges in exchange for the following:

• Leaving an encouraging comment/constructive feedback on a Deepgram Hackathon submission
• Asking a technical question related to Deepgram in the Help Thread.
• Answering a question in the Help Thread.
• Posting an update or encouraging participants in the Community Discussion Thread.

We're also randomly selecting four people in the Community Engagement category to win a credit worth $50 USD at the Forem Shop

Prizes

5 Grand Prize Winners (— one in each category of the "Build" challenge and one in the "Innovative Ideas" challenge) will receive:

• $1,500 USD gift card or equivalent
• $300 USD credit to the Forem Shop
• Deepgram swag pack
• DEV sticker pack
• DEV “Deepgram Hackathon” Grand Prize winner profile badge, unique to the category selected

Runner-Up Prizes (10 Total, across all categories and challenges):

• $250 USD gift card or equivalent
• $150 USD credit to the Forem Shop
• DEV and Deepgram sticker packs
• DEV “Deepgram Hackathon” Runner-Up profile badge, unique to the category selected

Participants (with a valid project):

• DEV sticker pack
• DEV “Deepgram Hackathon” participant profile badge

Community Engagement Prizes
In addition to the special profile badges we'll be awarding for Community Engagement, we'll also be randomly selecting one winner for each of the four Community Engagement categories to win $50 USD in cash.

DEV will double the sticker credit prize for all participants who submit under the "Build" and "Innovative Ideas" categories with valid projects for a total of $25 to the DEV shop. Just remember to house all your submission posts under the same series. More on that in the templates above.

Additional Rules:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends April 11, 2022 at 11:59 PM UTC. Contest is void where prohibited, or restricted by law or regulation. For Official Rules, see Contest Announcement Page and General Contest Official Rules.

Community Help and Support

If you need assistance with the hackathon rules or with Deepgram services during this contest, please ask all questions in the Deepgram Hackathon Help thread. The thread will be monitored by members of the DEV team and Deepgram teams.

If you'd like to share ideas with other participants, spread some motivation, or post an update about your project, check out the Community Discussion Thread.

Remember: We're awarding badges and prizes for participating in the Help and Community threads!

Deepgram will also be hosting a number of events throughout this contest to both motivate and support participants. Be sure to check Deepgram’s event hub here and mark the important dates on your calendar (below).

Important Dates 🗓

• March 10, 2022: Hackathon Begins!
• March 11, 2022: Deepgram Twitch Kickoff Stream at 6:30 PM UTC
• Tuesdays (March 15, 22, 29, & April 5): Twitter Spaces hosted by Deepgram here at 5 PM UTC.
• Fridays (March 11, 18, & 25. April 1 & 8): Deepgram “Office Hours” on Twitch at 6:30 PM UTC.
• April 11, 2022: Hackathon submissions due at 11:59 PM UTC.

During Deepgram’s Twitch streams, they will be available for questions and highlighting featured submissions.

Winners to be announced in the weeks following the hackathon due date. Prizes and all profile badges will be fulfilled soon after the official winner announcement post is shared on DEV

The DEV and Deepgram teams are really excited to see your projects, read your innovative ideas about AI speech recognition, and watch you cheer one another on. Let's do this 🏁