NU COVID-19 Solidarity Initiative Announce Results of “Creathon” Hackathon Event to Promote Vaccination
Nazarbayev University COVID-19 Solidarity Initiative (“Solidarity Initiative”) is pleased to announce the results of its “Creathon” Hackathon event aimed at creating media to promote vaccination.
The Solidarity Initiative was established in April 2020 by Nazarbayev University, primarily to support medical workers in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since April 2020, the Solidarity Initiative has raised more than 50 million tenge in donations, mostly from NU faculty and staff, and dispensed more than 40 million tenge to assist in the fight against COVID-19. Most of the money allocated by the Solidarity Initiative has gone towards supplying Personal Protective Equipment to hospitals and medical centers throughout Kazakhstan, to keep medical workers safe.
More recently, the Solidarity Initiative decided to partner with NURIS DC Lab to organize a hackathon event aimed at helping Kazakhstan return to a safer and more normal way of life as quickly as possible.
The hackathon was announced on 13 September, 2021 and the 50 available spaces to participate were filled within 3 hours by participants from all over Kazakhstan.
On Friday, 24 September participants gathered for an opening ceremony, where they were given the challenge of creating media in the form of videos and infographics aimed at influencing as many people as possible to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Just after the ceremony, participants began developing videos and infographics aimed at encouraging people to get vaccinated. Forty-eight hours later, on Sunday, 26 September, the exhausted participants submitted their media creations to an expert panel for judging.
Judging results were announced later that day, with the judges reporting that submissions were of a very high standard.
The importance of this initiative was reflected in the 2.1 million tenge in total prize money offered by the Solidarity Initiative to the winners of the “Creathon” hackathon contest.
Video Competition Winners:
1st place: “ADM work” team
2nd place: Rustem Kabdullin
3rd place: “GLITCH” team
Special prize: “AI” team for the most scientific approach in describing why it is important to get vaccinated.
Graphic Design / Infographic Competition Winners:
1st place: Ainura Bagitova
2nd place: Aisulu Almasbayeva
3rd place: “Randomotion” team
The Solidarity Initiative would like to congratulate the winners of the “Creathon” hackathon competition and thank all participants, judges and NURIS DC Lab for their efforts and contributions.
The Solidarity Initiative now plans to promote the winning videos and Infographics throughout Kazakhstan, with the aim of encouraging all people to get vaccinated.
Vaccination is a group effort. It is only when most of us are vaccinated against COVID-19 that we are safe from the virus. We are not safe until we are all safe!