UoA Student Team Wins Hackathon Category Grand Prize at Ishinomaki Hackathon 2016

From July 29 to 31 (Fri-Sun), "Ishinomaki Hackathon 2016" was held at the Miyagi Co-op cultural hall, "Aitopia Hall". This year marked the fifth edition of the event, which was attended by some 100 participants this year. This year's theme was "Youth". Team "IngressGO," an entry from the UoA comprised of 3rd year undergraduates Takumi YAMASHITA, Masaki YAMADA and Shoma SAITO, won the "Hackathon Category Grand Prize".
"Ishinomaki Hackathon" is a three-day software development camp where participants are divided into teams and compete to develop original apps that goes well with the theme.
The hackathon was first organized in 2012 with the purpose of providing young people with the opportunities to get interest in the IT field and find out their own dreams through app development. The biggest feature of the competition is that the teams are made up of students of all levels, from elementary school students to university students, as well as professional engineers and designers. This opportunity allows students to see skilled professionals in action up close. The professionals, meanwhile, get to see their fields through the eyes of hopeful young students.

"Grand Prize for Hackathon Category"
Team: IngressGO
Members: Masaki YAMADA, Shoma SAITO, Takumi YAMASHITA (all are the 3rd-year undergraduates) and another member
Work: "Seishun Oka Seisho (Original Song Writer)"
Summary of the work: The theme is "Youth". This is an app which generates parody songs based on the user's memories of youth.
Detail of the work: This app allows users to generate their own theme songs. Every single person has their own memories of youth. A concept behind this app is to dramatize each user's own memorable moments in a humorous way. With the app, you can pick up texts posted by the user on social media like Twitter, etc. then select your favorite song. The app will generate a parody song based on them. It also has a Karaoke function for smartphones which displays the lyrics of the parody song together with some of your favorite photos.
Comments:
Masaki YAMADA: I was in charge of the server side at this event. I think we were able to create an interesting work. Although we were given the "Grand Prize" in the end, I was painfully aware of the points we could have improved on, and I think we could have improved the quality of the app. I will devote myself to my studies without being satisfied by this result.
Shoma SAITO: I'm certain this is the only team that could have made this app. There were a lot of things to reflect on, so I hope that I can perform more consistently next time. I am grateful to have received the "Grand Prize".
Takumi YAMASHITA: I was in charge of the presentation and the development of the algorithm used to generate parody songs from text, which is the foundation of the app. I was able to leverage my experience as a member of the competitive programming club, where I practice on a daily basis, in the development of the algorithm.
As this is the third time for me to participate in a hackathon, I am so glad that the third time was a charm and I was finally able to win a grand prize.