Lancaster Computing Department Scrapheap Challenge

SCRAPHEAP 2003 WINNERS: .:thePooch:.!!! Congratulations to all of our participants and judges.

September 2003

Call for Participation: Show Your Junkyard Genius!!!
Teams of grad students and staff from within the Computing Department are asked to come together to compete in a unique and fearsome battle for computing supremacy. This is your chance to participate in the most exciting event to come out of the department since Clash of the Titans.

How it works
Scrapheap Challenge takes place over two Tuesdays in September 2003 (challenges on the 2nd, 9th) and a Grande Finale on the 16th. On each day, teams will be given a challenge that is specific to an area of computing (for example, mobile computing). Teams will be given one day (9 hours) to build a solution to the challenge using any equipment in the department or anything that they can find! A panel of judges, including an expert, will evaluate the solutions and give each team an overall score. Teams must out-smart the competition will be evaluated on a number of creative and practical criteria.

Prizes
At the end of the first two challenges, the scores will be tallied and then the top two teams will battle it out in the Grande Finale (Sept. 16th), with the winners receiving the coveted Scrapheap Challenge Cup, a champagne celebration and other prizes, not to mention the respect of the computing community. The winning team will have their team name engraved on the cup which will be placed on display in the new InfoLab21.

	Who should get involved? Anyone who is currently registered as a PhD student within the Computing Department at Lancaster University or any member of the Computing Department staff is eligible to apply. Anyone wishing to participate who is not a member of the Lancaster Computing Department should email sheridaj@comp.lancs.ac.uk.
	Costs Since our department heads endorse this event, there is no cost to enter Scrapheap Challenge! However, you may want to acquire some team t-shirts or costumes to get your team into the spirit!

Location Building can take place wherever your team wishes. However, experts will be on-site in the Innovative Interactions Lab to offer their advice and support to teams who require it.
Endorsement Gordon Blair, the new head of department, and both CSEG and DMRG have given their full support for this event. As well, several lecturers and professors will be participating as Field Experts during the competition (see Rules).