Last year, the OpenBracket coding competition in Wilmington doled out cash prizes to some of the 88 participants. And the challenge resulted in at least five coders finding jobs and moving to Delaware.

This year, with around double the participants, the OpenBracket challenge is aiming to double to amount of hires.

Organized by a coalition of Delaware tech leaders, the in-person OpenBracket finals will be held at The Queen theater in Wilmington this Saturday and Sunday. The top prize for the head-to-head, round-robin style algorithmic tournament includes a $10,000 cash prize.

Overall, the event has two parts, with more than 10,000 participants trying to qualify online for the opportunity to compete in this weekend's championships. In total, the contest gives out $100,000 in prizes.

Around 150 coders are expected to attend this weekend.

“We are honored to host this event and help make Wilmington, Delaware, a center for software excellence,” said Ben duPont, board founder of OpenBracket Delaware, in a press release.

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OpenBracket Delaware was formed with support from Zip Code Wilmington and First State Innovation. The nonprofit’s mission is to bring world-class software developers to Wilmington for an elite coding competition that will highlight Delaware’s growing tech business climate. The event series is being produced with the support of many Delaware tech community leaders, including representatives from Short Order Productions, a Wilmington creative agency, and local tech news network Technical.ly.

"Without many of us realizing it, the technology sector has become the growth sector in the Wilmington economy," Chris Buccini, managing partner of the Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc., said in the release. "From the burgeoning FinTech sector that is creating more startups than ever in Delaware history, to the fast-growing financial services tech jobs, technology jobs are at the core of Wilmington's future.

"OpenBracket is yet another amazing sign that Wilmington is becoming a technology hub."

Contact reporter Jeff Neiburg at (302) 983-6772, jneiburg@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.