Seventy young programmers from across the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered in Brno last week for the 8th edition of the AT&T Junior Hackathon, a two-day technology marathon that saw secondary school students turn fresh ideas into functioning digital prototypes in just 24 hours.
Hosted at the Brno Secondary School of Informatics, Postal Services and Finance, the competition challenged teams of up to five students to build a socially beneficial innovation based on this year’s theme: gamification. The teams discovered the assignment only on the morning of 20 November, triggering a non-stop 24-hour countdown to design, code, test and then present their final concepts to a professional jury.
Organisers describe the challenge as a condensed version of an industry development cycle that typically takes companies months. Students had access to advanced technology, on-site mentors from AT&T and partner companies, and support from teachers, but little sleep. Success depended not only on technical skills, but also presentation ability, teamwork and time management.
Slovak Team Wins with Tool to Keep Meetings on Track
The overall winners, and the only Slovak team in the competition, were NoFlowCharts from the Stredná priemyselná škola elektrotechnická in Bratislava. Their project uses gamification to help companies keep meetings focused, alerting participants when discussions drift off-topic.
Second place went to a team from Gymnázium Arabská in Prague 6, who created a fast-paced game helping developers train their ability to spot bugs in code. Third place was awarded to students from the Secondary School of Film, Multimedia and Computer Technology in Zlín, who designed a game-based app that strengthens users’ ability to distinguish factual information from misinformation—a timely response to the rise of AI-generated fake content.
Special Awards Recognise Innovation Across Categories
Alongside the main prizes, the jury also awarded winners in additional categories:
- Best Idea: NoFlowCharts (overall winners)
- Best Technical Solution: PABIC, Zlín (also 3rd place overall)
- Best Presentation: Team Veritas, Gymnázium & Business Academy Orlová, for an app enabling users to donate items directly to organisations such as children’s homes, hospitals or retirement facilities
- Brno City Award: SigmaWolves from the Prague Secondary School of Automotive and IT, for an app enabling spontaneous real-world meetups, where users can instantly create or join events on an interactive map and earn XP for participation
Members of the winning teams received electronics vouchers worth up to CZK 20,000.
A Demanding but Inspiring Marathon
Despite the intense pace and more than 20 hours of continuous work, the atmosphere remained energetic and collaborative. According to the organisers, the event highlights the extraordinary potential of the next generation of IT talent represented by students who spend their free time not only gaming but actively creating, experimenting and exploring technology’s possibilities.
The hackathon is organised annually by AT&T’s Brno Global Network Services Centre in cooperation with Junior Achievement Czech (JA Czech), an educational organisation founded by Tomáš Baťa which aims to strengthen students’ digital skills, creativity and readiness for future careers in technology.
