Macbook Air M2

Apple iPad A16

SteelSeries Gaming Keyboard

In the world of hacking and engineering, a product must not only work well, but also provide the best user experience possible. Best hack that demonstrates clear design and usability intentions.
Prize: Polaroid Now 3rd Gen

Best software hack created by first-time hackers. To qualify, teams must be at least 50% composed of first-timers at a hackathon.
Prize: 40" Smart TV

Gotrax Electric Scooter

Neptune 3 Pro 3D Pro Printer

Sony WH-CH720N

The Best IoT Device Hack challenges participants to innovate within the Internet of Things (IoT) space. Whether designing a new connected device or modifying an existing one, the goal is to enhance everyday experiences or solve pressing challenges through smarter interconnected systems. Projects can span industries from home automation to industrial monitoring, allowing great creativity and flexibility!
Prize: Soldering Kit and Compact Digital Multimeter

The Best Medical Device Hack is an open-ended challenge aimed at improving or revolutionizing the medical and healthcare fields. Participants can design a new device or enhance an existing one to address real-world medical needs, from patient care to diagnostics. Creativity an impact on the healthcare industry are key.
Prize: Marshall Speaker

Best hardware hack created by first-time hackers. To qualify, teams must be at least 50% composed of first-timers at a hackathon.
Prize: Arduino Starter Kit R4

Opt in to qualify for the software track.

Opt in to qualify for the hardware track.

Create a unique hack for the airline that improves the passenger experience, employee experience, or operational efficiencies. Prize: 1st Place – 75k AAdvantage Miles per team member. 2nd Place – 50k AAdvantage Miles per team member. 3rd Place – 25k AAdvantage Miles per team member.

High-performance computing makes it possible to process massive data, run complex simulations, or evaluate thousands of scenarios. Most people who need these results are not computing experts. Your challenge is to design and prototype an application where a non-expert can submit a compute job to an HPC cluster (or simulated cluster) without having to understand how the underlying HPC works. You do not need HPC knowledge. You may simulate or simplify the computation. What matters is how inputs are structured, how large-scale processing is abstracted, and how results are presented so a non-expert can make decisions or gain insight. In your submission, show us not only what you built, but how you built it, including any creative use of generative or agentic AI to design, automate, or explain your system. Prize: 1st Place - PS5 per team member. 2nd Place - Meta Glasses (Gen 2) per team member. 3rd Place - JBL Speakers per team member

As it pertains to financial services, utilize a Generative AI (or any other model of your choosing) and transform the output you receive in a novel and interesting way prior to returning it to the end user. Prize: Samsung Galaxy Buds Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds per team member

Our track is The Best Financial Hack! This is your chance to change the game in fintech. Whether it's an innovative payment solution, helping consumers shop smarter, making financing more accessible, or a creative way to improve financial literacy, we want to see your boldest ideas in action. The track is intentionally vague to let you bring your own creativity to it! You can optionally take advantage of Capital One’s Hackathon API, Nessie (api.nessieisreal.com). It provides mock banking/transaction data to help spearhead your idea.. Prize: $300 giftogram per team member.

Create an e-commerce recommendation engine for a caravan marketplace that ensures every search returns meaningful results, even when inventory is limited or constraints are strict.- Query Expansion & Fallback Recommendations - Inventory-Aware Semantic Searchv - Zero-Match Scenarios - Personalization - Comparable & Substitute Models - Budget & Location Awareness Deliverable: A prototype recommendation engine that combines semantic search, personalization, constraint relaxation, and inventory-aware logic to maximize user satisfaction. Prize: 1st Place - $500 Amazon Gift Card (1 for entire team). 2nd Place - $350 Amazon Gift Card (1 for entire team). 3rd Place - $150 Amazon Gift Card (1 for entire team).

"Best Use of Figma" would go to the team who most creatively uses Figma in their hackathon process. This could be using the design software to wireframe or prototype an initial or final concept. To be considered, attach a shared link to the Figma design that can be accessed by anyone and a screen recording (in case there are sharing issues and we cannot access your work). Members of the Figma Education team will review all submissions, and all will be sent to Figma HQ!! Please direct any questions to a Figma Campus Leader! Prize: Bag of Figma Merch

Develop an inventory and operations management system for Mai Shan Yun that supports core restaurant functions such as taking and modifying customer orders, configuring table layouts, sending order updates to kitchen printers, and adding or removing menu items. Winning teams may have the opportunity to continue working with the restaurant to refine and deploy their solution in a live environment. Prize: $75 Mai Shan Yun Gift Card

Prize: 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?

Links:
- https://mlh.link/gemini-quickstart

Prize: 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.

Imagine the possibilities!
- Immersive Gaming & Entertainment: Dynamically change game difficulty, music, or story elements based on a player's real-time excitement or focus levels.
- Contactless Wellness & Fitness: Build a non-invasive app that monitors stress, recovery, or fitness performance without requiring a specialized wearable device.
- Accessibility & Security: Utilize vital signs for advanced, effortless authentication, or to enhance accessibility for specific user groups.
- Productivity: Design a tool that tracks focus or stress in real-time, providing feedback or environmental adjustments to optimize remote work or study sessions.

Build your next hack with Presage and show us the future of human-computer interaction! Best Use of Presage winners will receive SenseCAP Watchers for each team member, along with the following perks from the Presage team:
- A Free design consultation with a Presage application deployment expert
- 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

Links:
- https://mlh.link/presage

Prize: 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!

Links:
- https://mlh.link/solana

Prize: 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!

Links:
- https://mlh.link/vultr

Prize: 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!

Links:
- https://mlh.link/elevenlabs
- Get promo code at https://www.mlh.com/events/tamuhack-2a/prizes

Prize: Wireless Headphones

Auth0 wants your applications to be secure! Why spend hours building features like social sign-in, Multi-Factor Authentication, and passwordless log-in when you can enable them through Auth0 straight out of the box? You can also secure your AI applications with Auth0 for AI Agents.

Auth0 is free to try, doesn’t require a credit card, and allows for up to 7,000 free active users and unlimited log-ins. Make your new account today and use any of the Auth0 APIs for a chance to win a pair of wireless headphones for you and each member of your team!

Links:
- https://mlh.link/auth0

Prize: M5GO IoT Starter 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 M5GO IoT Starter Kit for you and each member of your team.

Links:
- https://mlh.link/mongodb
- https://mlh.link/mongodb-free
- https://mlh.link/mongodb-university

Prize: Desktop Microphone & a Free .Tech Domain Name for up to 10 years!

Make your Team's Achievements timeless: Win a .Tech Domain Name for up to 10 years to Showcase and Expand Your Project, Plus Desktop Mics for Effortless Collaboration on Zoom, empowering you to build even more cool things together!

Links:
- https://get.tech/mlh
- Promo code: TAMU26