We're a free, student-run, and beginner-friendly competition serving as your canvas to pitch bold solutions to global challenges, participate in engaging workshops, and connect with a diverse community of recruiters, industry professionals, and peers.

Requirements

ELLEHACKS CHALLENGES

All challenge details will be revealed after Opening Ceremonies on Friday January 30th, 2026.

The challenge topics will be included in your Hacker Handbook.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

10 non-cash prizes
1st Place ElleHacks 2026
1 winner

- Round Trip Flight Tickets With Porter Airlines

- 1 year subscription of Nord VPN, NordPass, NordProtectes and Incogni (up to 6 people)

- 1 GB of free data for Saily (up to 6 people)

- 3 month access and €200 credit for nexos-ai (up to 6 people)

- 2-year VIP CodeCrafters membership

2nd Place ElleHacks 2026
1 winner

- Expresso Machine

- 1-year VIP CodeCrafters membership

3rd Place ElleHacks 2026
1 winner

- AULA Mechanical Keyboard

- 6-month VIP CodeCrafters membership

Wealthsimple - Kids' Digital Banking Challenge (OPT-IN)
3 winners

1st Prize: 200 dollar each
- Calls with recruiters to discuss potential internship opportunities
- An office tour

2nd prize : 50 dollar each +
- Calls with recruiters to discuss potential internship opportunities
- An office tour

3rd prize :
- Calls with recruiters to discuss potential internship opportunities
- An office tour

Best Use of Gemini API
1 winner

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

Best Use of Presage
1 winner

SenseCAP Watcher & Presage Perks
Presage is pioneering the Human Sensing Layer, enabling any application to understand a person’s real-time physical and emotional state. With Presage, you can leverage clinically-proven vital signs, movement, emotion, and/or focus tracking to build a project that gives the standard camera super powers. Use any of the Presage SDKs to integrate capabilities like real-time heart rate, breathing rate, engagement levels, and facial expressions into your hack with just a few lines of code.

Best Use of Solana
1 winner

Ledger Nano S Plus
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.

Best Use of DigitalOcean
1 winner

Retro Wireless Mouse
DigitalOcean offers a reliable and easy-to-use cloud platform for every stage of your project. Leverage core services like Droplets, Managed Databases, and App Platform to build, deploy, and scale your application effortlessly. Building with AI? DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI enables you to build, train, and deploy machine learning models, including access to GPU infrastructure and serverless inference!

Best Use of ElevenLabs
1 winner

Wireless Earbuds
Deploy natural, human-sounding audio with ElevenLabs. Create realistic, dynamic, and emotionally expressive voices for any project, from interactive AI companions to narrated stories and voice-enabled apps. ElevenLabs will empower you to build rich, immersive experiences without the need for actors or complex audio production, using simply the power of AI.

Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
1 winner

M5Stack IoT Kit
MongoDB Atlas takes the leading modern database and makes it accessible in the cloud! Get started with a $50 credit for students or sign up for the Atlas free forever tier (no credit card required). Along with a suite of services and functionalities, you'll have everything you need to manage all of your data, and you can get a headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your team.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Judging will be in-person

Judging will be in-person

Judging Criteria

  • Time Limit
    Each team will be given 5 minutes to present 3 minute pitch, followed by 2 minutes of Q and A.
  • Judging Criteria
    Regardless of the challenge topic chosen, all teams will be considered for the ElleHacks 2026 Prizes based on our Judging Rubric, which can be found in your hacker handbook.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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Hackathon sponsors

Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Bronze Sponsors

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