This past weekend, the New York City Metro Area hosted five National Day of Civic Hacking events! (Two in Manhattan, One in Brooklyn, One in Queens, and One in Newark, NJ) One of them was the City’s first CityCamp and the last public event before the conclusion of NYC BigApps.
After three months of civic hackers working on solving NYC’s biggest issues, NYC BigApps 2013 hosted NYC’s first CityCamp. Participants hacked and polished their projects, while the general public explored NYC’s civic technology ecosystem and beta tested BigApp projects.
At the end of the day, BigApps participants celebrated the near conclusion of the competition with the first ever Demo Night. In front of a panel of esteemed judges, 11 BigApps projects demoed fully functionally projects and four four honors were awarded.
Demo Night Winners
- First Place: HealthyOut
- Second Place: MintScraps
- Third Place: Plexx
- Honorable Mention: Climafy
Demo Night Judges:
- Hon. Gale Brewer, New York City Council
- Michael Bierut, Pentagram
- Nick Judd, Personal Democracy Forum
- Katy Peters, TurboVote
- Chrys Wu, Matchstrike LLC and Hacks/Hackers NYC
This event was generously hosted and supported by New York Law School and Code For America’s Brigade. A big thank you to Personal Democracy Media in supporting NYC BigApps Demo Night winners.
NYC BigApps 2013 ends on Friday, 7 June 2013 at 5:00 PM and is open to all! Good luck NYC BigApps participants and submit your app today!
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About the NYC BigApps Demo Night winners…
First Place: HealthyOut
BigIssue: Healthy Living
App Description: HealthyOut is a smart meal recommender that allows New Yorkers to quickly locate healthy meals at local restaurants. With a few simple clicks, users can search for dishes by nutrition preferences (like calories, nutrition tags like Heart Healthy, Paleo, Vegetarian) as well as tastes (cuisine, main ingredient, preparation style).
HealthyOut NYCBigApps URL & App URL
Team Members:
- Dan Myers, Developer in New York, NY
- Jonathan Hironaga, Developer in Campbell, CA
- Wendy Nguyen, Designer in New York, NY
Prize:
- $1,500 Cash Prize
- An opportunity to attend the White House’s Champions of Change event in Washington DC.
- Tickets to Code for America’s Annual Civic Innovation Summit.
- Tickets to Personal Democracy Forum 2013 Conference.
- A private dinner with civic technology and civic startup leaders hosted by Code for America.
Second Place: MintScraps
BigIssue: CleanWeb
App Description: MintScraps is an online platform that helps restaurants, grocery stores, and other food service establishments track and analyze their waste stream to find cost savings. By understanding the proportion of recyclable and compostable material in their overall waste stream, businesses can take proactive steps in reducing their waste disposal and inventory purchasing costs. Through MintScraps, businesses can manage and analyze their food waste and other parts of their waste stream on a regular basis. Additionally, organic waste haulers can reach out to businesses and collaborate with them to divert their waste away from landfills to save on waste disposal costs.
MintScraps NYCBigApps URL & App URL
Team Members:
- Claire Moloney, Writer in New York, NY
- Patrick Morris, Designer in New York, NY
- Tony Vu, Developer in New York, NY
Prize:
- $1,000 Cash Prize
- Tickets to Code for America’s Annual Civic Innovation Summit.
- Tickets to Personal Democracy Forum 2013 Conference.
- A private dinner with civic technology and civic startup leaders hosted by Code for America.
Third Place: Plexx
BigIssue: Jobs and Economic Mobility & Lifelong Learning
App Description: Plexx is a training center in your pocket. Plexx is a mobile training app where people can learn the skills they need to obtain a job and build a career.
Plexx NYCBigApps URL & App URL
Team Members:
- Yacaira Jimenez, Writer, ‘in New York, NY
- Sergio Marrero, Scientist in New York, NY
- Victor Popov, Developer in New York, NY
Prize:
- Tickets to Personal Democracy Forum 2013 Conference.
- A private dinner of civic technology and civic startup leaders hosted by Code for America.
Honorable Mention: Climafy
BigIssue: CleanWeb
App Description: An app to help home owners understand the benefits (lower utility bills, higher property value, greater comfort, healthier, lower carbon footprint) of turning their houses into green homes and the tools to quickly and easily find contractors and green lenders to get the energy efficiency upgrades done. The app would combine location awareness with a simple user path and social sharing capability.
Climafy NYCBigApps URL & App URL
Team Members:
- Rafael Vasquez, Developer in New York, NY
- Angello Maggio Ferro, Developer in Bronx, NY
- Greg Hedger, Developer in New York, NY
- Scott Powell, Developer in Brooklyn, NY