espnW teams with Girls In Tech to develop smart phone apps during “hackathon”

The Super Football Hackathon event challenged female mobile developers, designers and product developers to create smart phone apps that would enhance the Bay Area visitor experience during “Super Football Week.”(Sereita Cobbs/ESPN)

Adriana Gascoigne, Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech (third from left), and the team that developed the “Nubee” app, the hackathon’s grand prize winner: (L-R) Devin Smith, designer and pitcher; Lily Ngo, UX designer and pitcher; Gascoigne of Girls In Tech; Lucas Farah, Backend/iOS; Hoang Do (also known as Troy) , iOS/Algorithm; and Demir berkay yilmaz: iOS/Animations. (Alexander Mendioro/Girls in Tech)

Senior Vice President, espnW and Women’s Initiatives, Laura Gentile, delivers opening remarks. (Alexander Mendioro/Girls in Tech)

The competitors take a yoga break. (Michelle Bashaw/ESPN)

Chris Lin (L), web developer of Digital Media Partnerships, ESPN, and VP Content Program & Integration, Carol Stiff, prepare presentation slides. (Michelle Bashaw/ESPN)

ESPN employees who served as hackathon judges: (third from left) Katie Tomezsko, Director of Product Management, ESPN Digital Media; (fourth from left) Sereita Cobbs, Director of Content Integration & Strategy, espnW; (fifth from left) Christine Kim, Director of Product Management, ESPN Digital Media. (Alexander Mendioro/Girls in Tech)

Galvanize San Francisco served as the host site for the weekend-long hackathon. (Alexander Mendioro/Girls in Tech))

SAN FRANCISCO – Over the weekend, espnW teamed with Girls In Tech for the Super Football Hackathon. The event, at Galvanize San Francisco’s SoMa campus, challenged female mobile developers, designers and product developers to create smart phone apps that would enhance the Bay Area visitor experience during the upcoming “Super Football Week.”

The big game will be played Sunday, Feb. 7, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Nubee, a mobile app that helps explain football to “newbies” or those who don’t normally follow the sport, captured the hackathon’s grand prize. The team, made up entirely of Bay Area developers and designers, earned a VIP trip to ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters. The prize will include a VIP tour of the Bristol campus and meet-and-greets with ESPN and espnW executives, developers and on-air talent.

“It feels surreal to be able to visit ESPN headquarters and see where all the magic happens,” said Lily Ngo, a designer on the Nubee app team. “I’m thrilled to see what goes on inside that and what the secret formula to success is. In commercials, they always show athletes roaming the halls of ESPN, so I’m looking most forward to bumping into some of them so I can brag to my friends. Crossing fingers!”

Senior Vice President, espnW and Women’s Initiatives, Laura Gentile helped kick off the weekend with opening remarks.

Katie Tomezsko, Director of Product Management, ESPN Digital Media; Christine Kim, Director of Product Management, ESPN Digital Media; and Sereita Cobbs, Director of Content Integration & Strategy, espnW, were among the panel of experienced judges to determine the Hackathon standouts.

Michelle Bashaw, espnW’s Senior Digital Media Designer, and Christopher Lin, web developer of Digital Media Partnerships, served as mentors.