The best all-round hack, this prize considers design, complexity, and impact to determine the best hackathon prize! Best Overall winning teams get the following:
1st - IPAD / Quest 3s / 4K TV
2nd - Switch Lite
3rd - General Tech priced at $125

The best gaming hack prize will go to the team that makes a fun game that fits best with our Cryptids theme!
1st - Gaming Gear $200
2nd - Gaming Gear $100
3rd - Gaming Gear $50

The best hardware hack prize will go to the team that incorporate the best hardware into their project this weekend!
1st - Gift Card $100
2nd - Gift Card $50

New to hackathons? We’ve got the track for you! Compete against other first-timers to win a grand prize of your own. (Majority of your team should be first time hackers!)
1st - General Tech $200
2nd - General Tech $100

The Hackers Choice award will go to the team whose project resonates most with the audience. For this category, you are the judges!

1st: 3d Printer $250

SchoolSims creates interactive simulations that help educators, leaders, and students practice real-world decisions in a safe learning environment. The hackathon project challenges students to build a simulation with selectable language and character ethnicity, combining text, images, video, and a two-option decision that leads to different outcomes.

$1000 Grand Prize

This project aims to develop a universal mobile filmmaking cage that lets students, filmmakers, journalists, photographers, and content creators turn a modern smartphone into a more complete handheld video production system.

Rather than designing the cage for one specific phone, the project should focus on creating an adjustable platform that works with most current-generation smartphones, including both Apple iPhones and Android devices. The system should also be adaptable enough to remain useful when users upgrade their phones.

$1000 Grand Prize

Create an efficient way for the laboratory to take information from handwritten or typed-and-printed sample labels and convert that to a digital format which can be uploaded to our database.

$1000 Grand Prize
Possible $500 Runner-Up

The On-Theme award recognizes the project that integrates and embodies this year's theme. Evaluation will focus on how seamlessly, creatively, and thoroughly the theme is woven into the team's design and technical execution.

1st: Polaroid Camera Lego Set

[ Mechanical Keyboard ]
Your hackathon A-team just got two new members. Build your hackathon project with Cursor and Grok Bot this weekend to qualify for the SpaceXSI raffle. Every member on the winning team walks away with a custom-branded Cursor mechanical keyboard.

Here’s how you qualify:

Use Cursor as your core AI coding agent
Integrate a Grok Bot automation into your workflow
In your project description, describe how you use both Cursor and Grok Bot.
Submit your project and be sure to opt-in to the Make it Legendary with SpaceXSI raffle.

[ MLH Swag Kits ]
It’s time to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI using Google Gemini. Check out the Gemini API to build AI-powered apps that make your friends say WHOA. So, what can Gemini do for your hackathon project?

Understand language like a human and build a chatbot that gives personalized advice
Analyze info like a supercomputer and create an app that summarizes complex research papers
Generate creative content like code, scripts, music, and more

Think of the possibilities… what will you build with the Google Gemini API this weekend?

[ Unruggable Hardware Wallets ]

The world of development is evolving fast and Solana is leading the charge with a network built to handle all of your infrastructure needs. Forget high fees and slow confirmations, it’s time to build applications that are fast, efficient, and scalable.

Harness Solana’s core advantages like blazing fast execution and near-zero transaction costs to make your hackathon ideas become real world projects. With Solana, the possibilities are endless.

Create a game, social app, or consumer product that relies on instant, high-frequency transactions.
Design a sophisticated trading, lending, or decentralized exchange (DEX).
Build a prototype for supply chain, identity, or payments that can handle massive, real-world volume.

Show us how you can innovate with Solana for a chance to win Unruggable Hardware Wallets for you and each member of your team!

[ Stream Deck Mini ]

Building high-performance apps under hackathon deadlines shouldn't mean spending half your weekend configuring complex databases or learning obscure query languages. Tiger Data extends PostgreSQL to give student developers an ultra-fast foundation for real-time data, time-series metrics, and complex analytics.

Why build with Tiger Data this weekend?

Standard SQL Power: Query massive datasets instantly using the SQL you already know, with no complex NoSQL aggregation pipelines required.

Unified Data Stack: Store relational user profiles and high-frequency metric streams side-by-side in a single database.

Instant Dashboards: Serve lag-free, real-time frontend charts using pre-computed Continuous Aggregates.

90%+ Data Compression: Store millions of events on free-tier cloud instances without running out of disk space.

Whether you’re building real-time IoT monitoring, AI-driven analytics dashboards, or financial prediction engines, show us how Tiger Data powers your project. The team that demonstrates the most innovative, impactful, and performance-driven use of Tiger Data will take home some great prizes!

[ Tablet ]
Vultr empowers hackers to bring their high-performance projects to life instantly; providing everything from the speed of one-click deployment and scalable cloud compute, to specialized Vultr Cloud GPUs that can power AI-driven applications. We want you to push the limits of what can be built when infrastructure is no longer the bottleneck!

Sign up for a Vultr account today and claim your free cloud credits! Take your next hack to the cloud with Vultr for a chance to win some awesome prizes for you and your team!

[ Arduino Student Kit, Plushies, Socks ]
Play with industry-leading LLMs on a single account using the Snowflake APIs. Adding AI capabilities into your application can be as simple as a single CURL command to Snowflake’s REST API.

Build customized applications, RAG powered chat bots, or embed AI-powered features into your app in half the time with half the hassle. Get started for free with a special, student 120-day Snowflake trial and check out this repository for an example of the Snowflake REST API in action.

[ Digital Gift Card ]

GoDaddy Registry is giving you everything you need to be the best hacker no matter where you are. Register your domain name with GoDaddy Registry for a chance to win some amazing prizes!