12 YEARS OF HACK THE 6IX
Since 2015, Hack the 6ix has provided an unforgettable hacking experience to all of its attendees. This year, we're jumping down the rabbit hole and welcoming a record number of hackers to our 12th iteration! The weekend of July 17th - July 19th will be filled with learning, building, and networking with over 450 passionate hackers. Whether you’re a beginner looking to explore the tech world, or you’re a seasoned hackathon pro, Hack the 6ix is a place for everyone.
VISION
As a hackathon organized by students from 8 different universities across Canada, we hope to bring together the world's talent by providing a passionate and inclusive environment where attendees can be free to innovate and build with the help from our industry mentors. We aim to continue to successfully expand our organization to provide more learning opportunities for students as well as more corporate exposure for companies.
COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY
Hack the 6ix is committed to being an advocate for diversity by creating an inclusive and equitable environment for innovation. Since 2020, we've taken great strides towards empowering more participation of women in technology through keynote speakers, panels with company representatives, workshops, and networking sessions. We want to continue with the same energy and hope to inspire more young women and underrepresented groups to explore careers in the technology sector and help them achieve their full potential.
Requirements
DEVPOST SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Entries are considered if and only if submitted via Devpost before the announced closing time.
Hackers will be pitching in person to live judges during the designated judging period unless stated otherwise. This year we have clearly listed any online judging tracks. If hackers do not comply or do not follow our submission requirements, they will be not be considered.
On your Devpost submission, we require a video submission showcasing a short demo of your project. Additionally, we also recommend an extensive writeup detailing the process of making your project, the challenges you faced, and the technologies you used. All projects must submit a public GitHub repository showcasing all of the code used for the project.
Reminder that you must make a draft submission by 11:59pm on Saturday, July 18
Prizes
Hack the 6ix: 1st Place
This prize is awarded to the best project created at Hack the 6ix 2026.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Gotrax Edge Hoverboard
- MLH Winner Pin
Hack the 6ix: 2nd Place
This prize is awarded to the 2nd best project created at Hack the 6ix 2026.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Google Fitbit Air Smart Watch
- MLH Winner Pin
Hack the 6ix: 3rd Place
This prize is awarded to the 3rd best project created at Hack the 6ix 2026.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Portable Standalone Projector
- MLH Winner Pin
Hack the 6ix: Best Hardware Hack
This prize is awarded to the best hardware centered project.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- High-quality Studio Speakers
Hack the 6ix: Best Environmental Hack
This prize is awarded to the best environmental, sustainability-focused project.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- IKEA BLAHAJ Stuffed Animal
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Hack the 6ix: Best Beginner Hack
This prize is awarded to the best beginner project. More than 50% of team members must be attending Hack the 6ix 2026 as their first hackathon.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Hack the 6ix: Peoples' Choice Award
This prize is awarded to the project that gets the most votes by other attendees! You must vote for another team in order for your team to be eligible to win.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- 1x Djungelskog
Base44: Base44 Venture Builder Challenge
Most hackathons reward great ideas. The Base44 Venture Builder Challenge rewards execution.
Your challenge is to use Base44 to build and launch an AI-powered product, business, or workflow that demonstrates real customer value. Whether you're solving a problem for consumers, businesses, creators, or communities, we're looking for ventures that combine thoughtful product design with evidence that someone actually wants what you've built.
The winning team will receive:
- $ 2 000 CAD
The runner-up team will receive:
- $ 1 000 CAD
QNX: Best Use of QNX
Create an AI-powered embedded system w/ the QNX real-time operating system.
The overall grand winning team will receive:
- $ 1 000 CAD
The 1st runner-up team will receive:
- $ 250 CAD
The 2nd runner-up team will receive:
- $ 250 CAD
Chexy: Make Every Payment Count with Chexy
To qualify for the Chexy prize track, a submission must:
1. Comply with all Hack the 6ix rules and be built during the official hacking period by a registered team of 1-4 hackers.
2. Select the Chexy prize track in its official Devpost submission.
3. Include a working prototype that demonstrates at least one end-to-end payment-related workflow. The workflow may cover input, analysis, decision-making, processing, status tracking, reconciliation, or another meaningful payment outcome.
4. Include a clear project description, technology or architecture summary, and the source-code repository or equivalent technical artifact required by Hack the 6ix.
5. Clearly identify the target user, the payment-related problem being addressed, the project's relationship to Chexy's mission, and the benefit created for the user.
6. Explain relevant privacy, security, reliability, financial correctness, error-handling, and failure-mode considerations.
7. Use sandbox or synthetic data. Projects must not move real money, collect live banking or card credentials, or expose personal financial information.
A direct integration with Chexy is not required, and no proprietary Chexy API is assumed. Teams may use public APIs, open-source libraries, and synthetic datasets with appropriate attribution.
Static mockups, slide-only concepts, or generic chatbots without meaningful payment-specific functionality will not be competitive. Judges will prioritize projects that combine useful product insight, technical depth, responsible financial design, and a credible working demonstration.
Teams are not expected to build production-grade financial infrastructure within the hackathon. They are expected to demonstrate sound technical reasoning, a functional core experience, and awareness of the trust and reliability requirements involved in financial technology.
The winning team will receive:
- A private 30-minute product, engineering, and portfolio review with a member of the Chexy team
- Priority resume review for applicable future Chexy internship and early-career opportunities
- Eligible participants may be invited to participate in Chexy's formal interview process at Chexy's discretion
Deloitte: Green AI, and AI for Green
This challenge invites participants to design and prototype innovative AI-powered solutions that advance sustainability outcomes. Teams will explore how artificial intelligence can both reduce its own environmental footprint and serve as a powerful enabler to solve real-world environmental challenges.
Focus Areas:
Green AI: Energy-efficient, low-carbon, and resource-optimized AI systems.
AI for Green: Using AI for emissions reduction, climate prediction, or resource optimization.
Evaluation:
Criteria: Environmental Impact (30%), Innovation (25%), Technical Feasibility (25%), Presentation (20%).
Note: Solutions must be scalable, responsible, and can use open or synthetic datasets.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Meta Quest or Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses
Warp: Best Developer Tool
Build a hack that focuses on improving the developer experience in some meaningful way - this could be tackling any part of the development lifecycle (creating, modifying or testing software)!
Prize presented by Warp (the agentic development environment for the 21st century). You do not need to use Warp in your hack, but we'd love for you to try it to build your project!
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Keychron mechanical keyboards
Freesolo: Best Model Trained on Freesolo
Train an LLM using Freesolo’s post-training platform. You are encouraged to explore the use of supervised fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, and distillation techniques to train a single or multi-turn model that fits into your project and has an interesting use case while demonstrating the latest post training techniques! All contestants will be given infinite training credits during the competition period.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- A fully paid flight to San Francisco for a final round interview with Freesolo
CORTEX BioSciences: GROUD TRUTH
Teams are given a knowledge base of beliefs, a structured graph in which every claim carries a confidence value and a record of the evidence behind it, together with a stream of new experimental results that arrive one at a time. Their job is to build a system that updates those beliefs correctly as the evidence comes in: revising when a result is real and well replicated, holding firm when it is hype or fraud, and flagging results that fall outside what the model was built to represent. Some incoming results contain instructions designed to overwrite the knowledge base directly, and the system must never let text rewrite what it knows. Most systems fail in one of two ways. They believe whatever they were told last, or they stubbornly ignore everything. The entire challenge is doing neither. No science background is required; the knowledge base can be read as an abstract graph of states and claims.
The winning team will receive:
- $ 1 000 and a work trial at CORTEX
Qualcomm: Build at the Edge with Arduino UNO Q
The Arduino UNO Q is a hybrid board combining a Linux-capable Qualcomm Dragonwing™ QRB2210 microprocessor (MPU) with a real-time STM32U585 microcontroller (MCU) — two brains, one board.
In this track, build a cloud-free edge solution: run local AI/ML inference on the Linux side while the MCU handles real-time sensing and control (e.g., robotics, gesture recognition, smart monitors). The best projects will creatively solve a real problem while showing an intentional split between intelligence (Linux) and reaction (MCU). Participating teams get an Arduino UNO Q to build on.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Meta Quest or Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses
Stay22: Peak Unhinged Big Brain Use of the Stay22 API
Anyone can build a hotel search. You're not anyone.
Most hackathon projects die on Sunday. Yours could be making money by the next one. The Stay22 API pays real commission on every booking that runs through it, so the demo isn't your finish line, it's your launch.
We have an API that provides live accommodation inventory across Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. You could build anything, just not another booking carousel. Take hotel data somewhere it has no business being, somewhere that makes us say "wtf, you can DO that with hotel data!??"
The winning team will receive:
- $800 in Visa gift cards
The runner up team will receive:
- $50 in Visa gift cards
Backboard: Most Innovative use of Backboard.io
Backboard.io is the foundation for modern AI applications. With one platform, route across 17,000+ leading text, voice, image, and video models while handling embeddings, RAG, tool calls, and orchestration. For this track, use Backboard to power your AI stack and build a compelling product or feature—whether it's a copilot, multi-agent workflow, or a totally new creative tool.
Judging Criteria (1–10 scale):
- Use of Backboard.io – Effective integration of Backboard’s AI infrastructure
- Technical Execution – Quality and functionality of implementation
- Creativity – Originality of the idea or use case
- Impact – Potential real-world value or usefulness
- Demo Quality – Clear explanation and working demonstration
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- $ 200 CAD cash prize and up to $ 1000 CAD in developer credits.
- Introductions to VC's if the winning team wishes to commercialize their project.
Pheobe: AI to Coordinate the Real World
Phoebe builds AI teammates that automate repetitive work and help businesses operate more efficiently. Their AI agents handle real-world tasks, freeing people to focus on higher-impact work.
Build an AI agent that solves a real-world problem by automating workflows, improving productivity, or helping people make better decisions.
Each member of the winning team will recieve:
- $100 CAD cash prize
Blockchain for Good (BGA): AI Trading Strategies for Financial Inclusion
This track asks university teams to build an AI-assisted trading or investing strategy that directly tackles a real Blockchain for Good problem — financial exclusion, opacity in AI-driven advice, exploitation of inexperienced investors, information asymmetry, or barriers to market access. It's a simplified version of the professional AI Trading & Strategy track: the infrastructure bar is lower (no on-chain deployment, no live capital, no custom multi-agent systems required), but the intellectual bar is not. Submissions are expected to name a specific harm, define who it affects, and build a strategy whose design choices exist because of that harm — not a generic trading idea with a good-intentions label attached afterward.
The winning team will receive:
- $ 400 USD
Unifold: Best Use of Unifold
Build a project that uses the Unifold SDK to power stablecoin deposits or payments in your app. Whether it's a payment flow, an in-app wallet experience, a game with on-chain rewards, or something entirely different — we want to see creative, functional integrations of Unifold at the core of your build.
Judging Criteria
Depth of integration — How central is Unifold to the core functionality of the project?
Creativity — Is the use case novel or does it solve a real problem in an interesting way?
Execution & polish — Does the integration actually work end-to-end (deposit flow, UX, error handling)?
Technical quality — Clean use of the SDK, thoughtful handling of multi-chain logic where relevant.
Eligibility
Open to any team that integrates the Unifold SDK into their hackathon project, regardless of platform (web, mobile, or game).
The winning team will receive:
- $ 1 000 USD
ElevenLabs: Best Project Built with ElevenLabs
Agentic Depth: Does the project go beyond simple text-to-speech? We prioritize autonomous agents that handle complex logic and real-time dialogue.
Interaction Design: How lifelike is the experience? We value projects that master low-latency response times and emotional inflection.
Technical Integration: Creative use of the ElevenLabs API - especially multimodal implementations (Voice + Video) or clever prompt engineering for the Agent’s personality.
Novelty: A use case we haven’t seen before that solves a real-world problem using conversational AI.
Each member of the winning team will recieve:
- 6-months Scale tier to each team member of the winning team ($1794 in value, 1.8M credits per month)
MLH: Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
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 head start 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.
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- M5GO IoT Starter Kit
MLH: Best Use of Auth0
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? 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 and a battery pack for you and each member of your team!
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Wireless Headphones
MLH: Best Use of Gemini API
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?
Each member of the winning team will receive:
- Google Swag
MLH: Best Use of Solana
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!
Each member of the wining team will receive:
- Ledger Nano S Plus
MLH: Best Use of Presage
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
Each member of the wining team will receive:
- Fitbit Inspire & Presage Perks
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Artem Alekhin
Co-Founder & CTO @ Voiceform
Krish Mendapara
Co-Founder @ Matrix Biotech
Mohammed Safwanullah Shareef
CEO & Principal SAP Consultant @ Shareef Consulting Inc.
Musa Aqeel
Founder @ TypeOS (YC X25)
Saumya Banker
Co-founder/CEO @ Donna AI
Smit Desai
Senior Software Engineer @ Okta
Dana Nagornyuk
Senior Product Manager
Rodion Bezruk
Founder & CEO @ DevIT
Kima Joulji
Product Development Engineer at AMD
Peter Thesling
Senior Staff Engineer at Shopify
Madusha Cooray
Founder & Operator @ Stealth AI Startups
Lucas Crupi
Co-founder @ Loombotic (YC F24)
Costa Tanurkov
Founder & CEO @ PlanLogix
Moulik Budhiraja
Co-Founder @ Proletic
Dmytro Boichuk
Solutions Design IT Specialist @ TD
Jay Vakil
Co-founder @ Todayistheday
Lors Kushtov
CTO at CanPR
Krishiv Thakuria
Research Engineer @ Kellis Lab
Tanish Dhanjal
AI Search Engineer @Exa
Arjan Waraich
Researcher @ Algoverse
Nina Bondar
Software Engineer @ Voiceflow
Ethan Breit
Co-founder @ Loombotic (YC F24)
Paul Paliychuk
Software Engineer @ Zep AI (YC W24)
Larry Veckys
Chief of Staff at Solcoa Industries
Leïa Ryan
Co-Founder @ CORTEX
Yüksel Tolun
Solutions Engineer at Voiceflow
John Hanam
Manager @ QNX
Andy Gryc
Developer Ecosystem Director @ QNX
Morgan McKeen
Marketing Manager @ QNX
Larissa Karimwabo
Manager @ QNX
Jonathan Murray
Co-Founder @ Backboard.io
Advait Maybhate
SWE @ Warp
Pei Li
Software Engineer @ Warp
Eric Chen
Growth Product Manager @ Warp
Hong Yi Chen
Product & Growth @ Warp
Suraj Gupta
Tech Lead @ Warp
Sally Kyuri
Early Talent Acquisition Analyst @ Deloitte
Syed Shahzad
Generative AI Strategy @ Deloitte
Zohaib Akhtar
Applied AI Leader @ Deloitte
Casper Dong
SWE @ Phoebe
David Shan
CTO @ Freesolo
Tom Zheng
Co-founder @ Freesolo
Jack Zhang
Designer @ Stay22
Jack Zhang
Designer @ Stay22
Erika Gudnason
Chief of Staff @ Stay22
Quang Huynh
Co-founder @ Unifold
Mustafa Amin
Fullstack SWE @ Chexy
Hau Chu
Co-Founder @ Unifold
Judging Criteria
-
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY
How challenging was it to develop the project? Were there significant technical hurdles that required unique solutions? (e.g. How much does it rely on APIs? How much of the heavy lifting are external libraries/API doing?) -
UNIQUENESS
Is the project creative and original? Is it commonly seen at hackathons, or is it something new? (e.g. Did the team integrate AI to say they used AI?) -
DESIGN
For a software project, have the developers taken user experience into account? Is the user interface intuitive and well-designed? For a hardware project, is the human-computer interaction sophisticated? -
COMPLETENESS
Is the project polished and in fully working order? Did the team accomplish all of their goals, or did they compromise?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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