Congratulations to Katie Lee, Eckerd’s 2026 Hacker of the Year and grand champion of Hackamajig, our annual cybersecurity challenge. Lee was the first of seven students to complete all nine levels. She received the grand champion trophy and a $500 cybersecurity scholarship at the October 30 awards ceremony in Armacost Library.
Lee, a junior political science student, is the first woman to win the contest.
A new format: Synthwave Beach
This year introduced Synthwave Beach, a neon coastal setting that connected all nine levels in one web app. For the first time, participants could sign in with their Eckerd accounts, save their progress and return to the challenge across multiple visits.
Cloud/Software Engineer Kevin Çelebi designed and built the contest from scratch, as he does each year. The new platform brought together puzzles about phishing, network trust, cryptography, AI agents and system recovery, along with a beach-wide search for hidden cats.
Student winners: 9/9 levels completed
- Katie Lee: Grand Champion
- Keilan Bargo
- Riley Fioresi
- Joseph Raia
- Levi Keyton
- Cassandra Sciarra
- Zekiel Thuma
Staff winner: 9/9 levels completed
Penh Alicandro was the only staff winner, completing all nine levels of the challenge.
Cat-click champions
Student champion: Zekiel Thuma, 40/40 cats. Thuma found every cat in the collection as well as completing the main challenge.
Staff champion: Henry B. Cowhey, 35/40 cats. Cowhey led the staff cat collection standings.
At the awards ceremony
ITS recognized the winners on October 30 with the grand champion trophy and student prizes. Thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s challenge.
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- Cloud/Software Engineer Kevin Çelebi presents the grand champion trophy to Katie Lee.
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- The 2026 Hackamajig trophy and student prizes.
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- Kevin Çelebi presents a prize to fourth-place winner Joseph Raia.
Read the College News story about Katie Lee and this year’s competition.
