JUDGING CRITERIA
Each team will be scored from 1 to 5 points (5 being the highest) across four categories. Maximum possible score: 20 points.
CATEGORY 1: PRESENTATION (1-5 Points)
How effectively does your team communicate the solution?
- Clarity: Is the problem and solution clearly articulated?
- Storytelling: Does the presentation engage the audience and create a compelling narrative?
- Demo Quality: Is the live demonstration smooth, well-rehearsed, and impactful?
- Visual Design: Are slides, diagrams, and UI elements professional and easy to understand?
- Time Management: Does the team use their allotted time effectively?
CATEGORY 2: INNOVATION (1-5 Points)
How creative and original is your approach?
- Originality: Does the solution offer a fresh perspective or novel approach?
- Problem-Solving: Are creative methods used to address the use case challenges?
- Differentiation: What makes this solution stand out from conventional approaches?
- Risk-Taking: Did the team push boundaries or try something ambitious?
- Future Potential: Does the solution open doors for further innovation?
CATEGORY 3: FUNCTIONALITY (1-5 Points)
Does the solution actually work and solve the problem?
- Core Features: Are the essential features implemented and operational?
- Reliability: Does the solution perform consistently without errors?
- User Experience: Is the solution intuitive and easy to use?
- Completeness: How fully does the solution address the use case requirements?
- Technical Execution: Is the code well-structured, efficient, and maintainable?
CATEGORY 4: AWS WELL-ARCHITECTED PRINCIPLES (1-5 Points)
How well does your solution align with AWS best practices?
- Operational Excellence: Can the solution be monitored, improved, and operated effectively?
- Security: Are data and systems protected through proper controls and practices?
- Reliability: Will the solution recover from failures and meet availability requirements?
- Performance Efficiency: Are resources used efficiently to meet system requirements?
- Cost Optimization: Does the architecture avoid unnecessary costs while delivering value?
- Sustainability: Does the solution minimize environmental impact?
REQUIRED TOOL: AMAZON KIRO
All teams are expected to use Amazon Kiro as their primary development environment to realize creative visions and make solutions truly unique.
Amazon Kiro provides:
- AI-Assisted Development: Leverage intelligent code suggestions and automation
- Rapid Prototyping: Quickly iterate on ideas and bring concepts to life
- Integrated AWS Services: Seamlessly connect with AWS infrastructure
- Collaborative Features: Work together in real-time with your team
Judges will consider how effectively teams leverage Kiro's capabilities to accelerate development and enhance their solutions.
EXPECTED AWS SERVICES
Teams are expected to build solutions using native AWS services. Consider incorporating:
- Amazon Bedrock: Build generative AI applications with foundation models
- AWS Lambda: Run code without provisioning or managing servers
- Amazon CloudWatch: Monitor applications and infrastructure with observability
- Amazon EventBridge: Build event-driven architectures at scale
- Amazon S3: Scalable object storage for any data type
- Amazon DynamoDB: Fast, flexible NoSQL database service
- AWS Step Functions: Coordinate distributed applications and microservices
- Amazon API Gateway: Create, publish, and manage APIs
Effective use of AWS native services demonstrates cloud-native thinking and will be considered when evaluating AWS Well-Architected alignment.
Remember: The best solutions balance all four categories. A beautiful presentation without functionality, or a working solution that ignores security—neither will achieve top marks. Strive for excellence across the board.