Department of Computer Science and Technology
The 1st Kean Cup
AI COMPETITION
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New Era with AI and Innovation
Let's Go!
🎯 Competition Theme
"Wow AI is So Cool!"
Create an original piece where AI plays a central role.
🎨 Visual Creation
Describe an image or short video in natural language, gather any needed components, and use an AI tool to generate the final product
🎵 Musical Innovation
Co-write a song by having AI help with lyrics, beats, or both and submit a performance (sung by you or by an AI voice)
🚀 Unleash Your Creativity
Explore another creative path where you actively collaborate with AI to refine and customize the output (not just apply a one-click filter)
🛠️ AI Tools to Get You Started
With today’s AI tools, just tell the AI what you imagine—you can bring something fun to life in under an hour!
🎨 Image Creation - Nano Banana
Use Google Gemini's latest image generation nano banana to create stunning visuals from text descriptions!
🎓 Students get FREE Pro access for 1 year!
→ Claim Your Free Gemini Pro
🎵 Music Creation
Create original songs, beats, and melodies with AI-powered music generators:
- AIMusicGen.ai - Free tier, no sign-up required, fully royalty-free
- AIMusic.so - Turn text prompts into music, download MP3s or MP4 lyric videos
🎬 Video Generation
Bring your ideas to life with video creation tools:
- Bing Video Creator - Transform text into engaging videos
🚀 The AI Universe Awaits!
These are just the beginning! There's so much more AI can do! You are free to use any AI tools you want!
Explore, experiment, and showcase your discoveries at the AI Competition!
The most innovative use of AI tools might just win you the top prize! 🏆
🏆 Competition Structure
Round 1 - CS Department
- $100 gift card for 1st place winner! 💰
- $50 gift cards for 2nd and 3rd place winners! 💰
- Top 10 winners get awesome prizes: Pens, notebooks, cups, T-shirts and so much more! 🎁
- Winning projects showcased on competition webpage
- Submit your work by September 14, 2025
Round 2 - University Wide
- All Round 1 submissions automatically advance
- Students may update or refine their projects.
- Teams of up to three are allowed. Each team member should have a clear role (e.g., one creates beats, another writes lyrics, another designs visuals).
- Extra prizes may be awarded by the university 🏅
- Deadline and more details to be determined
📋 Requirements
🎨 Originality
- The work must be your original design
- Use of free/copyright-free materials is preferred
- Cite all sources you use (images, text, audio, code, etc.)
🤖 AI Contribution
- Your project must showcase AI as a core component of the creation.
- You may refine or edit the AI’s output to improve polish and presentation for the competition.
- Include your complete AI workflow with your submission—this should cover prompts/conversations, major steps, tools used, and key settings.
🎭 Presentation (make it "very cool")
- Treat this like a finished piece ready for an audience
- If you enhance a photo, include both before and after
- If you combine multiple components, show original inputs and the final result
- If you write a song, submit the song sung by you or AI (only submitting lyrics or beats is not accepted)
💡 Creativity Ideas (Totally Optional)
🎵 Refine this Song
Enhance this song by adding more lyrics and include Wenzhou-China Campus. Or re-imagine the MV style.
🌍 Art of Transition
Tell the story of your journey from your hometown to Kean University.
🎭 "Keanu is here!"
Invite Keanu to visit your hometown, wear your culture clothes, eat your favorite food, and play your favorite sports.
🏫 Campus Reimagined
Transform campus photos and signature buildings—or blend different Kean campuses into one imaginative scene.
🏷️ Personal or Group Identity Logo
Create a logo or symbolic image that reflects your personal identity, cultural background, or student club.
🎯 Life & Hobbies
Build something that showcases your day-to-day life, interests, or hobbies.
🎨 Course Image for Canvas
Design a course image for Canvas, with Kean logo and major course components.
📤 Submission Guidelines
📍 Where to Submit
If you are enrolled in the CPS 2800 Fundamentals of AI course, please submit your work to the course assignment. Otherwise, Department of Computer Science and Technology students should submit through the DCR_VPAA Departmental Communication & Resources course on Canvas where you can find the Kean Cup AI Competition assignment.
All submissions will be verified to ensure they meet the competition requirements before entering the judging process.
Winning submissions will undergo additional reviews to verify originality, confirm proper source attribution, and ensure compliance with copyright regulations.
Please submit everything together in one ZIP file. Your ZIP should include:
- Final creation (one image - include before & after, one song, one video):
- The full conversation between you and the AI that shows your creative process (pdf).
- Citation list (pdf): All sources not owned by you (including free/copyright-free materials).
- (Optional) Supplementary materials such as the lyrics of your song.
- (Optional) A title or short description of your submission (up to 20 words).
❓ Q&A
🎓 Who is eligible for the competition?
All students from the Department of Computer Science and Technology are eligible to participate, including both undergraduate and master's students.
🌍 I'm not from the CS department, but I still want to participate
Great news! While Round 1 is only open for CS department students, Round 2 will be university-wide. Stay tuned for more details about the university-wide competition!
👥 Can we work as a team?
For Round 1, you must work individually, as this is the CS department-wide competition and we expect our department students to be able to utilize AI tools independently. In Round 2, you may work in teams of up to three members.
📤 How do I submit my work for the competition?
If you are enrolled in the CPS 2800 Fundamentals of AI course, please submit your work to the course assignment. Otherwise, submit through the Canvas DCR_VPAA Departmental Communication & Resources course. You can find the submission link from the course announcements or the AI Competition module.
🔍 Why can't I find the Departmental Communication & Resources course?
Check your emails and accept the invitation to the course on Canvas. If you still cannot find it, please contact a CS department adimnistrative staff or the IT support. If you cannot get it resolved over the weekend, please email your submission to Dr. Zimeng (Simone) Lyu at zlyu@kean.edu before the submission deadline.
🙏 Acknowledgements
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all staff members who helped set up this exciting competition.
The prizes for this competition are sponsored by the Department of Computer Science and Technology
at the Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology.
Questions? Feel free to reach out to Dr. Zimeng (Simone) Lyu at zlyu@kean.edu
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Go Keanu! 🚀
Innovate. Create. Conquer. ⚡🧠⚡