SLIIT gears up for the grand finals of the CODEFEST 2013
Monday, 21 October 2013 00:00
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Grand Finale to be held on 25 October
Following the immense success and popularity of CodeFest in 2012, the Faculty of Computing of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) will conduct CODEFEST for the second consecutive time this year.
CODEFEST is a nationwide software competition which aims to harness student talent and aid in the software development sector in Sri Lanka. SLIIT seeks to contribute towards propelling the country to become a knowledge hub by conducting competitions of this nature.
The first round of the CODEFEST competition, open to secondary school and tertiary level students was held on 20 September 2013 at SLIIT’s Malabe campus, with the Grand Finale to be held on 25 October 2013. There will be a Mini Hackathon and quiz competition running parallel to the grand finale.
Criteria for the secondary school category will involve a quiz competition which will be held during workshops for the school teams, during which teams were asked questions based on the ICT syllabus. To support the potential participants of CODEFEST, SLIIT conducted a series of IT seminars in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. These seminars were held at 10 centres Island wide, covering most of the provinces in Sri Lanka. The seminar series assisted school children to enhance existing knowledge of ICT and emerging technologies while providing them an opportunity to share knowledge.
Under the school category 52 teams from schools island-wide participated. Participants were required to develop an interactive system to assist students to interact with and improve knowledge on any subject to meet defined learning outcomes.
The 10 best teams were selected for the second round, and after an elimination round the best five teams were selected for the grand finale. The top three teams at the grand final will receive awards and valuable cash prizes of Rs. 80,000, Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 40,000. Furthermore, two other awards will be given to the teams that produce the most innovative and creative software.
The tertiary category encompassed a software competition and Mini Hackathon. This competition was open to students from any higher education institute in Sri Lanka, including universities. Under the tertiary category, 26 teams from different universities participated in the preliminary rounds. Contestants were expected to develop a context-aware mobile application that supports the current needs of Sri Lankan society. Innovative forms of locations-based applications and context-sensitive applications beneficial to the progress of the country were encouraged. The top three teams of the competition will be awarded cash prizes worth Rs. 50,000, Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 20,000 at the grand final. Similar to the school category, two awards will be given to the teams producing software that showcases innovation and creativity.
Teams for both the school and tertiary level categories comprised up to five members. All members of a team were from the same school or university.
The Mini Hackathon will be held at SLIIT Malabe Campus parallel to the finale of CODEFEST. A product specification of a mash-up application for a simple real life requirement would be presented at the onset of the challenge. For the Mini Hackathon, student teams from both universities and schools will compete with each other to prove their aptitude for software development.
These teams may comprise up to five members. Teams participating in the Hackathon are required to hack together a piece of working software within six hours using any technology. The winning team will be awarded a valuable cash prize.
“CODEFEST 2013 is part of SLIIT’s CSR project which seeks to enhance and enrich students’ knowledge of IT while leveraging the power of IT across the island,” states SLIIT Chairman Professor S. Karunaratne.
“This competition is an ideal platform to promote the application of skills honed from ICT-related modules taught in schools and with undergraduate studies towards problem solving skills and related areas” notes SLIIT President and CEO Professor Lalith Gamage. “Participation in the competition provides an opportunity to compete with peers from around the country, sharing real competitive experiences, making new connections and, above all, showcasing talents and innovations.”
Strategic Alliances to this event were the Ministry of Education – ICT Branch and ICTA. Main sponsors of this event included Volume Ltd, Cellcity Ltd. and IFS Ltd. Also Sheffield Hallam University, Virtusa and BoC joined hands as other sponsors of this event.
More information on the grand final could be obtained by CODEFEST 2013 Coordinator Indraka Udayakumara, either through post (Faculty of Computing at SLIIT – New Kandy Road, Malabe) or email ([email protected]).
