2025 Schedule
All sessions will be accessible via a single Zoom link. This link will be circulated to registered participants the week of the event.
Participants are required to attend the Live Pitches and Judging session.
Deep Dive and Industry Expert Q&A sessions are designed to support brainstorming and ensure that participants understand the competition guidelines and prompts. Attendance at those sessions is highly encouraged.
Friday, September 26th
12:15 PM MT
Official Competition Prompts Released
The three prompts for this year’s competition will be released at hackahouse.org at the end of the kickoff session.
1:00 PM MT
Prompt-Specific Deep Dive Sessions
Three “deep dive” sessions - one for each prompt - will take place at 1:00 PM MT. Led by housing innovation experts from the Ivory Innovations team, these sessions are designed to help competitors get a better understanding of what the judges for each prompt are looking for.
1:30-3:30 PM MT
Industry Expert Q&A Sessions
Between 1:30-3:30 PM MT, over a dozen industry experts will be available for 30-minute open Q&A sessions. These sessions are intended to support competitors as they brainstorm and refine their ideas. Experts include policymakers, academics, and private-sector leaders from across the housing sector. Ivory Innovations staff will also be available during this time to answer questions.
More information about this year’s Industry Experts can be found on the Judges & Industry Experts page.
1:30-2:00 PM MT
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Focus Engineering Team Members | Focus Engineering
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Jonathan Lawless | Bilt Rewards
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Shkëlqim Kelmendi | Housing Connector
2:00pm-2:30 PM MT
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Evita Chavez | LISC Bay Area
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Heather Miksch | Villa
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Muhammad Alameldin | CA YIMBY
2:30pm-3:00 PM MT
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Charly Ligety | Housing Innovation Collaborative
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John Peavey | Director, Building Science, Home Innovation Research Labs
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Ricky Becerra | Bridge Investment Group
3:00pm-3:30 PM MT
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Amro Al-Nimri | Ivory Innovations
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Chris Gamvroulas | Ivory Development
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Matt Knight | Foundation for Innovation in Real Estate
8:45 AM MT
Submission Deadline
Submissions are due at 8:45 AM MT. For teams, only one team member should upload the team’s submission. Participants are strongly encouraged to upload their presentations at least 15 minutes before the deadline to accommodate any technical issues that may arise. Submissions must be in the form of a PPT or a PDF attachment. Late submissions will not be accepted.
9:30 AM-12:00 PM MT
Live Pitches
All competitors must join the competition Zoom by 9:30 AM MT. After self-sorting into breakout rooms based on their chosen prompts, each team or individual will pitch their submission live to their peer competitors and a panel of judges. Judging sessions will conclude at noon MT. Learn more about this year’s Judges on the Judges & Industry Experts page.
1:30 PM MT
Winner Announcement
Three $3,000 winners - one for each prompt - will be announced live on Zoom. Winning teams will be asked to remain on Zoom following the conclusion of the Winner Announcement to coordinate travel details for the Ivory Prize Summit, where one the three prompt winners will be chosen as the 2025 Hack-A-House Grand Prize winner.
Voting Ends at 12:00 PM MT on October 6th
People's Choice Award Voting
Voting for the $1,000 People’s Choice award will be open until 12:00 PM MT on October 6. The award goes to the submission that receives the greatest number of votes. All submission slides will be made publicly accessible here on the Hack-A-House website, and the link to the voting form will be added here and shared via email.
Saturday, September 27th to Monday, October 6th
10:30-5:00 PM MT
2025 Ivory Prize Summit
The 2025 Ivory Prize Summit will take place from 10:30 to 5:00 PM MT at the University of Utah. At the Summit, each winning team will present their submission to a live audience of entrepreneurs, academics, and other housing professionals. After hearing the pitches, the audience will vote to select a Grand Prize winner from among the presenting teams. The Grand Prize winner will receive an additional $2,000.