After 48 grueling hours of coding and an intense day of presentations to a panel of judges, the CODE hackathon winners were announced at a ceremony held at The Burroughes Building in Toronto. The Grand Finale event marked the final step of the hackathon presented by XMG Studio Inc. and the Government of Canada.

“CODE 2015 has been an inspiring experience, showcasing a wealth of Canadian talent, from developers and designers to budding entrepreneurs,” said the Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board and official facilitator of CODE. “All participants demonstrated the potential open data has for job creation, opportunities in the high tech field, and future innovation.”

CODE awarded prizes to the following teams:

• $15,000 for the CODE Grand Champion:
  • Team Niew Labs with Career Path by Niew Labs
• $5,000 for Category winners:
  • Commerce: Business Opportunities:
    • Team Farm Canada with Farm Canada - Location: Calgary, AB - Participated virtually
  • Quality of Life: Healthy Living:
    • Team Neighbourfood with Neighbourfood Location: Vancouver, BC - Participated from Vancouver VIP HUB
  • Youth: Youth Employment:
    • Team Niew Labs with Career Path by Niew Labs - Location: Toronto, ON - Participated virtually
• $5,000 for the Best Student Team Submission:
  • Team SFU Data Crunchers with High School Down, Where Next? Location: Burnaby, BC - Participated virtually
• $5,000 for the Fan Favourite:
  • Team Bear Paws with COFY - Location: Richmond, BC - Participated from Vancouver VIP HUB

In addition to the cash prizes and eternal bragging rights, the category winners were also each awarded a full startup package to help set up their own startup sponsored by law firm Cognition LLP.

"CODE 2015 – the largest hackathon in Canadian history – showcased not only the breadth of data available to Canadians, but also the depth of talent and drive to succeed that's ingrained in Canada’s developer community,” said Ray Sharma, Executive Managing Partner at Extreme Venture Partners and Founder of XMG Studio Inc. “The wining teams' submissions are amazing examples of how fierce Canadian innovators are and how limitless the potential of open data really is. I congratulate the CODE 2014 champions – they are worthy winners!"

We congratulate all CODE participants who successfully submitted an open data application to compete in CODE and salute the CODE 2015 winners.