An all-women team of Saudi computer developers and programmers won first place at the record-breaking Hajj Hackathon, held in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, the Saudi Ministry of Media announced in a press statement late Saturday.

Hajj Hackathon, came to a close on Friday night with "Turjuman" – a team of Saudi young women – being named as the overall winner in the tech contest, the statement read. The Hajj Hackathon – which earlier entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest event of its kind ever held – aims to create high-tech solutions to make visits to Saudi Arabia a more efficient and enjoyable experience, particularly during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which is scheduled for August 19-24 this year and is expected to attract over two million Muslim visitors to the kingdom.

The team of young women developed an instant translation app – also named "Turjuman," which means translator in Arabic – to facilitate communication by pilgrims from all over the world, to take home the first prize of a million Saudi riyals (about 267,000 US dollars).

“I said goodbye to my family and told them that I will be coming back to you with the one million [riyals],” Rawan al Matrafi told the audience as she received the award along with her other team members.

“As a Saudi citizen, I do not hide my joy and pride in the daughters of this generous country," said Saud al Qahtani, adviser to the Saudi Royal Court, and founder of the Saudi Federation for Cyber Security, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), which organized Hajj Hackathon.

He said that this achievement by an all-women team is “an indication of the continuing success and excellence in the process of empowering Saudi women.”

The second prize of 500,000 Saudi riyals went to an all-male team from Egypt for their "Hajj Wallet" app, while an Algerian mixed team stood third to receive a cash prize of 350,000 Saudi riyals for their app "Roaa," or "Visions."

In the Hajj Hackathon competition, entrepreneurs and technology experts focused on areas such as crowd management, food, health, finance, traffic control, travel, housing, communications, and waste management, among others. The competition’s eight-member judging panel included Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The winning "Turjuman" app installs quick response (QR) codes on the instruction signs which show their translated versions in the pilgrims’ languages, without the need for an Internet connection, while the "Hajj Wallet" makes a pilgrim’s phone his or her money purse during the pilgrimage – either via cash deposit or credit card link. The "Visions" app developed by the Algerian team would allow visitors to keep track of the whereabouts of their family members performing Hajj by mapping out their location and taking their photos.

The Saudi women were one of 50 teams whose projects were chosen for development in a 100-day workshop conducted by the Badir Program for Technology Incubators and Accelerators in association with SAFCSP.

A total of 10 teams reached the final stage of the three-day event at Jeddah’s International Exhibition and Convention Center, which drew a total of 2,950 developers from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and around the world, breaking the Guinness world record for most participants in a software development contest.

Wozniak, who along with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, had joined the participants at the opening of the first Hajj Hackathon, was appointed an ambassador for the Saudi TechHub.

Wozniak has “happily agreed to be the Saudi Ambassador to Saudi TechHub,” al Qahtani said, adding the appointment reflects a desire to leverage one of the best modern minds to help the kingdom’s efforts to become a regional high-tech hub.

Wozniak said the remarkable development he witnessed in how the kingdom is approaching technology, and its fascinating Vision 2030 roadmap for the future, had persuaded him to accept the ambassadorship.

The tech legend called the Hajj Hackathon a success, noting Saudis had a big interest in programming and computer technologies, and adding that the kingdom could soon be the region’s key hub for technology.

(Cover: The all-women Saudi tech team receives the first prize at the Hajj Hackathon in Jeddah, August 3, 2018. /Photo via CIC, Saudi Arabia)