Gov. David Ige’s administration is offering some quick cash to up-and-coming software code writers who think they can develop solutions for some of the state’s vexing computer challenges.

In a new event dubbed the Hawaii Annual Code Challenge, or HACC, the state administration is hosting a gathering of amateur and professional code writers at Aloha Tower this weekend to compete for $10,000 in prize money to be awarded to the authors of the best solutions.

Ige said the event is designed to encourage growth in Hawaii’s high-tech sector while also making improvements in the information technology systems the state uses to do business or offer services.

A number of state computer systems are old and creaky and are nearing the end of their useful lives. In some cases the replacement systems the state purchased have encountered problems or failed to function the way they were supposed to, Ige said.

Those solutions “are really being developed and implemented out of state, and we live with the consequences when the contractor can’t deliver on all the features that they promised, and there’s no software development jobs in state that are tied to that,” Ige said.

“In the big picture, we are trying to encourage more software development for the companies that do business here in Hawaii, because we think it’s so much better for the state if the people who are actually working on the software actually live here,” he said.

The competition will be broken down into elementary school, middle school, high school, college and open categories; registration will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Aloha Tower Multipurpose Room 3. The event will be live-streamed for neighbor island coders, and off-island participants will be able to interact remotely.

The state is proposing nine “challenge ideas” mostly involving state functions, such as scheduling and tracking family visitations for prison and jail inmates; tracking political campaign donations; locating farmers markets around the state; and providing outreach and services for the homeless.

Staff from state departments will make presentations Saturday on the challenges and will also offer training and workshops.

Teams of code writers will then use their skills over the next several weeks to develop programs to modernize or improve state efforts in each of those areas.

“With more than 100 participants already registered, we’re impressed by the great interest shown by the tech community,” said state Chief Information Officer Todd Nacapuy in a written statement.

Ige said he speaks to students with an interest in computers, and he tells them that “working for the state in IT should be the best job they can find in Hawaii. There’s no other IT shop that has the breadth and depth of experiences that anybody could want, from taxes to financial management to budgeting to insurance.”

The Office of Enterprise Technology Services joined with the Hawaii Technology Development Corp., DevLeague, Hawaii Open Data, Blue Startups, Sultan Ventures and XLR8UH to stage the event.

Prizes for the competition are being underwritten by sponsors such as Hawaiian Electric Co. and Verizon. Additional support is being provided by DataHouse, eWorld Enterprise Solutions, Socrata, Uber, Unisys, DRFortress and Hawaiian Telcom.

While an ordinary “hackathon” usually involves teams that briefly work on a problem for a day or a weekend, the HACC will allow participants to work for a month on the issues they select.

Participants will return Sept. 24 to present their solutions for judging and winner selection. For more information visit HACC. hawaii.gov. Registration is available online or onsite at the kickoff.