HackNotts is the University of Nottingham’s annual hackathon, and a second time winner of the RS student fund! HackNotts 25 will be our 12th year running, and we are aiming to make it our biggest event yet. It will be taking place in October of 2025 so we are deep in our planning phase - ensuring that the event continues HackSoc’s legacy of running free and fun hackathons for students studying any degree at any university.
Our aim for this year is to host our biggest HackNotts yet - since the Computer Science building has recently been refurbished. We are looking at giving away 350 tickets this year, which is a big increase from previous years! This article is going to discuss everything that goes into organising HackNotts and how RS Components are helping to make it all possible!
Our newly refurbished Atrium space
Why do we run HackNotts?
The mission statement of the HackSoc society is to promote programming for fun - not just for the degree. By extension, we organise HackNotts each year to give students from across the country a chance to do just this. Typically at a Hackathon, students participate in groups of up to 4 to create anything they want within a 24-hour timeframe. HackNotts is unique in the sense that, for the past few years, we have actually been a 25-hour hackathon! Accidentally placing our event on the weekend the clocks change for a few years in a row has added to the number of events we can run over the weekend, as well as the chaos gained by hundreds of students pulling an all-nighter simultaneously.
Our Ex-Organiser, and first-time participant, Nathan, feeling the impact of the all-nighter (HackNotts 24)
Another unique aspect of HackNotts is our love for hardware - we have a massive collection of hardware components (many purchased from RS!) which we let our hackers use freely throughout the event. For many people, HackNotts is their first experience using hardware! Many of Nottingham’s hackers have lots of knowledge using hardware and are always happy to help others.
A lot of people are drawn to HackNotts because of our industry sponsors. We typically invite 2-4 companies to send representatives to our event, where they can run a talk/workshop and host their own prize category related to their business or technology. Students then have the chance to discuss career opportunities at these organisations and can gain their attention by entering for their prize category.
Our participants chatting with representitives sent by one of our sponsors, Capital One.
How is HackNotts organised?
In previous years, HackNotts would have one lead organiser who would then select a group of organisers focusing on experience, logistics, and finance. This year, due to the size of the event, we have decided to split leading into two - I will be focusing mostly on the logistics, whereas my co-lead Nishi will be focusing mostly on finance and sponsorships, giving us both enough time to deliver the best experience possible. We have selected a group of 6 students, each with lots of Hackathon experience, to help us along the way and have also chosen two very talented volunteers to create our website.
Our website, where students can register interest for the event.
We began organising HackNotts 25 in April/May of 2024, where we selected our organisers and began brainstorming what we want the event to look like. We discussed everything from numbers, food preferences, events we want to host, and our theme. For the past two years, HackNotts has been themed (retro and Halloween) so we spent a lot of time discussing (arguing) over next year. Though I am not going to reveal the theme now - I can confirm it is going to be very magical!
Currently, the biggest focus of our team is seeking out sponsors, and in August, we will begin working on our experience planning. Logistics picks up in September when we recruit a team of volunteers to aid with running the event on the day.
As we get closer to the event and have a better idea of our budget, we will work backwards to ensure we can cater for our participants and offer meaningful prizes without making (too many!) compromises.
What challenges do we face?
Because HackNotts takes place at the start of the academic year, mainly by final year students (who are writing dissertations and applying for graduate jobs), the time of the organisers can often be strained. We try our best to get as much work as possible done over the summer holidays, though this year we have had the unique issue of the majority of our organisers working full-time over the summer. Because of this, we have been getting sponsorship applications out little and often. This factor was also a big motivation behind splitting the lead organiser role this year - most of our organisers are final year students with various commitments, so splitting the role means we (at least currently) all have enough time to get non HackNotts work done.
Another big challenge we have is finding sponsorships. As the graduate job market has strained, with companies not having as much money to invest in early careers, it is more challenging to find companies that have the budget to support us.
How has RS helped?
As aforementioned, HackNotts is completely free. This means we must provide 4 free meals and prizes for the winners while making no money on tickets for the events. Having the support of RS is paramount to keeping the event free, as the student fund money is being used to ensure our hackers are well fed and can win brilliant prizes!
How can I participate?
If you are a student or recent graduate and you're interested in participating, you can visit out site and register your interest. We will then email you when our free tickets are released, to ensure you get yours first! Keep an eye on this page as we will be updating it with more information about the event as we release it - including our theme and prizes up for grabs.
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