Sonoma State University
Students speak to other students about their projects

Sonoma State Makeathon 2026

The Seawolf Makeathon will be held during the weekend of October 23-25, 2026. It will be a 48-hour event held over the course of the weekend. Student teams are encouraged to have students from at least two different majors to foster interdisciplinarity. Participating teams will receive instructions and have 48 hours to create a minimum viable product for their idea. At the end of the 48 hours, students will present their work and a brief presentation to judges who will vote to determine the winners and provide feedback to student teams. Participants must be current SSU students. The event will end with a project demo and presentation expo on Sunday, October 25 at 5:00 p.m. during which students will showcase their projects to other students and the public. At the end of the presentations, the winners will be announced.  

All event activities will take place in Room #1001 at the Wine Spectator Learning Center building in the Sonoma State University campus. 

Click here to view the Wine Spectator Learning Center location in Google Maps.

Click here for a brief explanation of what a minimum viable product is. 

Awards:

  • 1st place team: $1,500 award split equally amongst all team members.
  • 2nd place team: $1,000 award split equally amongst all team members.
  • 3rd place team: $500 award split equally amongst all team members.
  • Most Original Project: $500 award split equally amongst all team members.
  • Most Commercially Viable Project: $500 award split equally amongst all team members.
  • Most Artistically Appealing Project Design: $500 award split equally amongst all team members.  
  • All participating teams receive a certificate of participation.
  • Prizes will be distributed equally among members of winning teams and will be deposited to their student accounts at mySSU. 

Important Dates:

  • September 15: Registration opens. 
  • October 13: Registration deadline.
  • October 19: Participating students receive email with preliminary instructions. 
  • October 21: 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. – Social networking event for participating students. 
  • October 23: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. – Orientation for participating student teams. 
  • October 23: 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. – Event Kickoff.
  • October 25: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. – Project expo and demos.
  • October 25: 6:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. – Project presentations.
  • October 25: 7:00 p.m. – Winners announcement.