Join us for VTHacks 14, Virginia Tech's annual student-led hackathon, September 18–20, 2026 in Blacksburg, Virginia. Build a new project with a team of up to four, learn from mentors, and present your work during the Sunday expo. Live schedules, announcements, and participant resources are available at https://vthacks.com and in the registered-participant Discord.
Requirements
- Submit one project per team by Sunday, September 20 at 8:00 AM ET. Every team member must have a Devpost account and be listed as a contributor. Include a clear project description, an accessible public source-code repository, and working demo or presentation links. Clearly identify libraries, frameworks, open-source code, and any work created before the hacking period. Select every prize category you want to enter. Offline judging runs Sunday from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM ET; teams will receive presentation assignments and will have four minutes to present. The full team must be present for judging.
Prizes
VTHacks - 1st Place Prize
MacBook Pro, 14-inch, for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - 2nd Place Prize
PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - 3rd Place Prize
Keyboard, mouse, and monitor setup for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - Best First-Time Hack
AirPods 4 for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - Best Hack That Didn't Work
Amazon Echo Spot for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - Best DEI Hack
LED Smart Fire TV for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - Best UI/UX Hack
Kodak Polaroid camera for each member of the winning team.
VTHacks - Best Ut Prosim Hack
The North Face Borealis backpack for each member of the winning team.
[Impiricus] Build the Next HCP Engagement Tool — 1st Place
[Peraton] Best Mission-Critical AI Solution
Beats Solo headphones for each member of the winning team.
[GoDaddy] Best Use of ANS — 1st Place
Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 Wayfarer smart AI glasses for each member of the winning team.
[Capital One] Best Use of Nessie
$250 Giftogram gift card for each member of the winning team.
[Deloitte × Databricks] AI Agent for the Virginia Tech Student Experience
Best overall: JBL speaker plus Deloitte and Databricks merchandise for each member of the winning team.
[Deloitte x Databricks] Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention for AI Agent for the Virginia Tech Student
[Cloudforce] Most Interesting Use of HokieAI
[Procedura AI] Photo to Map-Ready 3D Building
Internship opportunities for members of up to two winning teams.
[GoDaddy] Best Use of ANS — 2nd Place
Beats Studio Pro over-ear headphones for each member of the winning team.
[GoDaddy] Best Use of ANS — 3rd Place
Cocopar 15.6-inch portable monitor for each member of the winning team.
[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 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 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 Tiger Data
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!
[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 MongoDB Atlas
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 group.
[MLH] Best Domain Name from GoDaddy Registry
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!
[Impiricus] Build the Next HCP Engagement Tool — 2nd Place
[Impiricus] Build the Next HCP Engagement Tool — 3rd Place
[Cloudforce] Most Engagement of HokieAI
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
VTHacks Judges
Judging Criteria
-
Technical execution
How well the project is built, how reliably it works, and how effectively the team used its chosen technologies. Judges should consider the difficulty of the implementation and the team's original contribution. -
Innovation and creativity
How original the idea or approach is, and whether the team found a thoughtful or surprising way to address the problem. -
Impact and usefulness
How clearly the project addresses a real need, who benefits from it, and how practical or meaningful the proposed solution could be. -
Presentation and completeness
How clearly the team explains the problem, demonstrates the project, describes its technical choices, and communicates what was completed during the hackathon.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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