Students Win Hackathon at Society 5.0 in Amsterdam
Five students from the Master Digital Design (MDD) won top prizes at this year’s Society 5.0 Hackathon in Amsterdam. Manuela Conte, Verona Kragten, and Loekie Vink wowed the jury with their creative, socially driven media concepts.
Also students Daniël Bolt and Oluwatosin Kazeem (track Interaction Design) were awarded Best Pitch.
The hackathon brought together students and media professionals to explore how AI can be used responsibly by creating new tools and formats that strengthen public values such as trust, transparency, and diversity.
Designing for Transparency
Manuela Conte (track Interaction Design) and Verona Kragten (track Digital Fashion Technology) won Best Prototype. Their winning concept was a digital platform that makes all the background information gathered during the investigations of Dutch tv programme Zembla publicly accessible. “Zembla gathers a ton of info when investigating a topic,” explains Verona, “not all of it fits into their articles or videos. The proposed tool would allow the public to explore that information in an organised, interactive way.”
The team’s goal was to make investigative reporting more open, transparent, and engaging.
Making News Relevant for Young People
Meanwhile, Loekie Vink (track Digital Fashion Technology) won Best Overall Idea with a project for #UseTheNews, focusing on how to reconnect young people with journalism. Her team developed the idea for a community podcast, created by and for young people in the Netherlands.
Each week, the podcast would invite young adults to discuss current events and what they mean for their generation: from elections to housing.
One-Stop Shop
The idea developed by Daniël Bolt and Oluwatosin Kazen (both students from the Interaction Design track) was selected as Best Pitch.
Their prototype, MediaMap, presents the news in a dynamic mind-map layout, connecting related topics and helping users gain deeper insight into their overall media diet. The concept also empowers users to regain control of their news consumption, moving away from algorithm-driven feeds.
Designing With Purpose
These winning projects reflect the spirit of the Master Digital Design, which encourages designers to use creativity, empathy, and critical thinking to make a positive social impact.
By winning the Society 5.0 Hackathon, Manuela, Verona, and Loekie have shown what it means to design with purpose — using technology for connection, transparency, and dialogue.
