Announcing the Microsoft Azure Trial Hackathon on DEV!

Hey DEV Community 👋

We've been sitting on this news for a little while now, so we're beyond excited to finally share it with you...

We're partnering up with the wonderful Dev Audience team at Microsoft Azure to bring you a new contest on DEV: The Microsoft Azure Trial Hackathon 🎉

From today (February 8, 2022) through March 8th, 2022 @ 11:59 PM UTC, you'll have the opportunity to apply Microsoft Azure's free trial credit (worth $200 USD) towards the creation of a new application as part of a new hackathon on DEV.

By choosing from the hackathon categories listed below, following our contest rules, and submitting a post about your project on DEV, you'll gain first-hand experience with Microsoft Azure's suite of cloud services and be a part of a fun collective experience on DEV.

❗❗ By submitting a valid project for the Microsoft Azure Trial Hackathon, you'll also be automatically entered to win some big prizes, including up to $1,500 USD in cash ❗❗ (or equivalent in your local currency).

What is Microsoft Azure?

Azure is Microsoft's public cloud computing platform, comprising of 200+ products and tools. It's designed to help developers like you create and scale new applications or port existing apps over to the cloud. Microsoft Azure supports serverless computing, Software as a Service (SaaS), IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), and PaaS (Platform as a Service). Additionally, Azure is compatible with open source software, allowing you to use your favorite tools in concert with Azure and is industry-agnostic.

If you'd like to learn more about Azure, you can follow the Azure Organization for more content and updates from Cloud Advocates and other Microsoft technology professionals.

Microsoft Azure Follow

Learn how to build and manage powerful applications using Microsoft Azure cloud services. Explore the documentation and samples, skill yourself up with tutorials and training. Any language. Any platform.

Your Hackathon Challenge

For the Microsoft Azure Trial Hackathon on DEV, we are challenging you to:

• Choose a category from the list below.
• Sign up for Microsoft Azure's free trial credit (worth $200 USD) which you can get here.
• Use the free credit to build an application that utilizes the Azure services listed in the category you chose.
• Publish an overview of your project on DEV during the contest window, ensuring that your project and submission post follow our rules. This post will serve as your official hackathon submission.

Categories

• AI Aces: Use Azure Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning services (ex: Azure Bot Service, Cognitive Search, Computer Vision, Custom Vision, LUIS, ML, etc) to build a new application.

• Computing Captains: Use Azure Compute Services (ex: Azure Functions, App Service, AKS, etc) to build a new application.

• Low-Code Legends: Use Azure low code/no code Fusion development services (with the Power Apps trial add-on) to build a new application.

• Java Jackpot: Use Azure's Java services to build a new Java app.

• Wacky Wildcards: Create a silly, weird, and/or totally random application using Microsoft Azure's services that doesn’t fit into any of the categories above.
  (For this category, we will favor the entries that are extra creative and wacky. This is your license to make something random, funny, or surprising!)

Prizes

5 Grand Prize Winners (one in each category):

• $1,500 USD gift card or equivalent
• $300 USD credit to the DEV Shop
• Microsoft sticker pack
• DEV & Microsoft sticker packs
• DEV “Azure Trial Hackathon” Grand Prize winner profile badge

Runner-Up Prizes (10 Total):

• $250 USD gift card or equivalent
• $150 USD credit to the DEV Shop
• Microsoft sticker pack
• DEV & Microsoft sticker packs
• DEV “Azure Trial Hackathon” Runner-Up profile badge

Participants (with a valid project):

• A $12 USD or equivalent credit to the DEV Shop
• DEV “Azure Trial Hackathon” participant profile badge

In order to submit a valid project, please follow the submission process, and rules below...

How To Participate

1. Create a Microsoft Azure account, utilizing their free $200 credit offer, which can be found here.
2. Select a category for your project (above).
3. Create a NEW app using the services described in the category you have selected. Refer to Microsoft Azure’s documentation to learn about the services required for your category.
4. Share your app's code in a repository on GitHub and include a README.
5. Ensure that your code is licensed with a permissive license (MIT, Apache-2).
6. Use this submission template to create an overview of your app on DEV (i.e. your submission post).
7. Publish your submission post on DEV between February 8 and March 8, 2022 (deadline is 11:59 PM UTC).

Additional Rules:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends March 8, 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 Azure's services during this contest, please ask all questions in the Azure Trial Hackathon Help thread. The thread will be monitored by members of the DEV team and Microsoft teams. In that thread, you’ll also find a link to get in touch with Microsoft directly.

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.

Important Dates 🗓

• February 8, 2022: Hackathon Begins!
• March 8, 2022: hackathon submissions due at 11:59 PM UTC.

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

We hope to see a Microsoft Azure Trial Hackathon submission from you! Good luck and have fun with this challenge 🌟