About Hacklytics 2026: Golden Byte
Step into a world of pure imagination at Hacklytics 2026, where creativity, curiosity, and innovation come together in a factory of endless possibilities. This year’s hackathon invites you to unwrap bold ideas, experiment fearlessly, and turn imaginative concepts into impactful solutions.
As you journey through this whimsical factory of innovation, you’ll tackle real-world challenges and blend technical skill with creativity and vision. Whether you’re crafting your first prototype or refining a polished solution, Hacklytics 2026 is your golden ticket to explore, build, and create alongside fellow innovators.
Bring your ideas, your skills, and your sense of wonder. Let’s see what you can invent.
Find out more about our hackathon at our website!
TRACKS
Finance
Analyze market trends, predict stock movements, and build cutting-edge fintech solutions. This track is perfect for projects focused on financial modeling, risk analysis, fraud detection, trading strategies, or improving access to financial tools using data and machine learning.
Sports Analytics
Dive into player performance, game strategy, and the future of sports data. Projects in this track may analyze real-time statistics, optimize team decisions, enhance fan engagement, or explore how analytics can redefine athletic performance and competition.
Healthcare
Innovate in bioinformatics, patient care, and personal health technology. This track encourages solutions that improve health outcomes, enhance medical decision-making, personalize care, or use data and AI to tackle challenges in healthcare accessibility and efficiency.
Entertainment
See how AI is transforming movies, gaming, and interactive experiences. Build tools or platforms that enhance storytelling, content creation, player engagement, or immersive media experiences across film, gaming, and digital entertainment.
Pure Imagination
Unleash your creativity, explore unconventional ideas, and use data to build the coolest, most unique project. This track is all about bold thinking-whether your project is experimental, playful, artistic, or completely unexpected, creativity takes center stage here.
Requirements
Eligibility Requirements
- Participants must be currently enrolled university or graduate students, or have graduated within the last year.
- Teams may have up to 4 members.
- Solo projects are allowed.
Project Rules
- No cross-submitting projects from another concurrent hackathon.
- No using code written before hacking officially begins.
- Hacking begins at 9:00 PM on February 20th.
- No using code written before participant has checked in to hackathon.
- Only one project per person/team may be submitted on Devpost.
- Teams may submit to multiple sponsor challenges but may select only one Hacklytics track, in addition to Pure Imagination.
- Each team is eligible to receive only one Hacklytics prize category (either Overall or a Track), with the exception of the Pure Imagination track, which may be awarded in addition to another Hacklytics prize.
- For the Pure Imagination track, teams may opt in and remain eligible to receive a prize in this track as well as in another Hacklytics track.
- Please ensure you select the same track in the Google Form and the Devpost.
Required Submission Materials
Only one team member should complete all submissions.
To be eligible for judging, you MUST:
1. Submit on Devpost
- Add first and last names of all team members to the Devpost
- Include a public GitHub repository.
2. Submit a 2-Minute Demo Video
- Must clearly explain the project and highlight key features.
- Submit as a public YouTube or Google Drive link.
- Video must be publicly accessible.
3. Submit a Brief Project Write-Up
- Outline your ideation and development process.
- Can be submitted as a document file.
- Credit any public frameworks, APIs, or external tools used.
4. Submit the Required Google Form
Must include:
- Devpost link (uncompleted submission is fine)
- Project name
- Team member information
- Chosen Hacklytics track (only one)
- Chosen challenge(s)
The Google Form will be released on Discord and will be due at 11:59PM on Saturday, Feb 21st.
Deadlines
All Devpost materials must be submitted by 9:00 AM on Sunday, February 22nd. The Google Form will be due at 11:59PM on Saturday, Feb 21st to ensure your project is judged. No late submissions will be accepted.
Prizes
Best Overall Hack – 1st Place
Apple 13” MacBook Air (M4 chip w/ 10-10-16 cores, 16GB memory, 256GB SSD)
& automatic acceptance to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
2nd Overall Hack
Apple AirPods Max & priority application to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
3rd Overall Hack
Samsung 27” Odyssey OLED G5 QHD Gaming Monitor & priority application to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
First in Finance
Nespresso Vertuo Next w/ Milk Frother & priority application to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
Second in Finance
JBL Grip Speaker
Third in Finance
Clay Poker Set
First in Sports
Apple 40mm Watch SE 3 & priority application to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
Second in Sports
JBL Grip Speaker
Third in Sports
Pickleball Set
First in Healthcare
Theragun Mini Gen 3 & priority application to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
Second in Healthcare
Fitbit Inspire 3
Third in Healthcare
Owala Water Bottle
First in Entertainment
Home Projector & priority application to Georgia Tech's Create-X Startup Launch
Second in Entertainment
Karaoke Machine
Third in Entertainment
Vinyl Record Turntable
Pure Imagination
Ninja Swirl by CREAMi Soft Serve and Ice Cream Maker
Most Unique Application of Sphinx
Sphinx-branded backpack. This prize recognizes a project that applies Sphinx’s tools or data in a novel, impactful, or unexpected way.
[MLH] Best Use of ElevenLabs
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.
Integrate fully autonomous audio experiences into your hack with ElevenLabs and give your project a voice, along with giving your team the chance to win some wireless earbuds!
[MLH] Best Use of Gemini API
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?
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?
[MLH] Best Use of Solana
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.
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 some cool prizes for you and each member of your team!
[MLH] Best Use of Presage
Fitbit Inspire & 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.
Immersive Gaming & Entertainment: Dynamically change game difficulty or story elements based on a player's excitement or focus levels.
Contactless Wellness & Fitness: Build a non-invasive app that monitors stress, recovery, or fitness performance.
Accessibility & Security: Utilize vital signs for effortless authentication, or to enhance accessibility.
Productivity: Design a tool that tracks focus or stress.
Build your next hack with Presage and show us the future of human-computer interaction! Win awesome prizes along for with the following perks from the Presage team:
Free refills for Presage Development credits to accelerate you through your next three months of building
30% off all Presage usage charges for your first year after going live
[MLH] Best Use of Vultr
Portable Screens
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 portable screens for you and your team!
[MLH] Best Use of Snowflake API
M5Stack Tab5
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.
GrowthFactor Challenge
1st: $250 cash per team member and featured case study with GrowthFactor:
Your work gets written up and shared with GrowthFactor's network of retail and real estate customers as a proof of concept.
2nd: $150 cash per team member
Most Creative Data Source Award: $75 per team member
Best AI for Human Safety by SafetyKit
SafetyKit branded Arc'teryx Atom Jacket per team member
Best Use of Actian VectorAI DB
1st - $500 split among team
2nd - $300 split among team
3rd - $200 split among team
Databricks Geo-Insight Challenge
1st: Databricks Lululemon Everywhere Backpack + Databricks Owala water bottle + $1000 Databricks credits
2nd: Databricks Lululemon Everywhere Backpack + $500 Databricks credits
3rd: Databricks Owala water bottle + $250 Databricks credits
note: all prizes are per team member
Most Unique Application of Sphinx
$100 Visa gift cards and a Sphinx branded backpack per team member
Figma Make Most Creative Data Visualization
1st: Figma branded Timbuk2 backpack per team member
2nd: $50 gift card per team member
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Hacklytics
Michael Waldrop
Nvidia, Manager Senior, SW Engineering
Anshul Gandhi
Apple, Senior Machine Learning Engineer
Sheldon Rodrigues
Microsoft, Senior Applied Scientist
Puneet Thakkar
Google, Finance Senior Project Analyst
Sahil Gandhi
Amazon, Senior Business Intelligence Engineer
Anusha Kovi
Amazon, Business Intelligence Engineer
Ashwathama Rajendran
Stripe, Data Analytics Lead
Akshit Calonia
Cisco, Machine Learning Engineer
Sagar Bharat Shah
JPMorgan Chase, Vice President, AI & Data Analytics
Amandeep Singh
Oracle, Principal Cloud Architect
Ramya Chintamaneni
Equifax, Software Engineer
Maninder Jeet Singh
Capital One, Senior Director
Rahul Kapoor
Google Cloud, Staff Software Engineer
Kashish Mittal
Uber, Staff Software Engineer
Mrinal Jain
Lowe's Technologies
Abdur Rahman
Datatex Textile Information, Inc.
Mitul Chittoory
Microsoft, Software Developer
Kashif Saleem
SubscriptionFlow
Abhishek Patria
Invesco, Principal Data Scientist
Karthigayan Devan
Genuine Parts Company, Software Engineer Manager
Hemant Soni
Capgemini America Inc., Product Development Leader
Phanindra Panthagani
Populus Financial Group, Senior Data Scientist
Shubham Kulkarni
QVC Group
Snezana Zivcevska-Stalpers
EAS Consultancy
Arunachalam Rajkumar
Rustoleum Corporation- BI Developer, Data Analytics
Rahul Khurana
Kroger, Tech Lead
Rashi Dhenia
Hitachi, Sr Business Intelligent Analyst
Yukti Goyal
KForce Inc, Lead Software Engineer
Gautham Kanekal Guruswamy
PayPal
Pooja Akkaladevi
Verisk, Lead Data Scientist
Aaditi Singhal
ProfitWise, CEO
Krishna Bhatnagar
Profitwise Inc.
Ramadevi Nunna
Wells Fargo
Dev Patel
PPL Corporation, Data Engineer II
Uday Kiran Chilakalapalli
LPL Financial, Senior Data Analyst
Brij Mohan
LPL Financial, VP Software Dev.
Andrei Vince
SuperKey, Software Engineer
Purvi Joshi
Amazon
Rohith Vangalla
Optum Technology
Abhishek Trehan
Saksham Kapoor
Jeevan Kumar Goud Bandharapu
Ganesh Kumar Suresh
Gautam Krishna Moorthi
Shyam Kumar Gajula
Endpoint & Identity Security Consultant, HCLTech America, Inc
Judging Criteria
-
Creativity and Originality
Projects should demonstrate a unique, unexpected approach to the data analysis and/or solution development. -
Impact and Relevance
Projects should provide strong and adequate evidence that they present potential benefits to society, science, and/or policy. They should also align strongly with the goals of the competition. -
Scope and Technical Depth
Projects should utilize an adequate variety and complexity of data/tools. They should use these tools correctly and consistently within analysis and/or development. -
Clarity and Engagement
Projects should provide a well-organized, complete and clear description of the approach used, tools utilized, and conclusions made. -
Soundness and Accuracy
Projects' data analysis techniques used in projects should be consistent and correct; conclusions must also be logical. -
Video Presentation and Communication
Project video submissions should clearly explain the approach, tools, and conclusions while being engaging, enthusiastic, and well-structured to capture and maintain the audience's attention.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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