hackathon · online

Build, Ship, Shape: Amazon Developer Hackathon

When it actually closes

Safe cutoff

official rules

Stated: “Friday, October 23, 2026, 12:00 pm PT”
Printed zone: PT
IANA zone: America/Los_Angeles
UTC: 2026-10-23T19:00:00Z
Your time: Fri Oct 23, 7:00 PM UTC (loading your time zone…)

Prizes

$138,000 cash · 12 slots

Cash prizes and extras, per the rules: - Fire TV track: $25,000 (plus $15k AWS credits and a meeting) / $15,000 (plus $5k credits) / $4,000 (plus $1k credits). - Alexa+ track: the same $25,000 / $15,000 / $4,000 with the same credits. - Bee track: $12,000 / $8,000, no credits. - Ring track: $12,000 / $8,000, no credits. - AWS Builder mini challenge: $5,000 cash plus $5k AWS credits. - Open Source mini challenge: $5,000 cash plus $5k AWS credits.

Fire TV or Alexa+ track — 1st
cash · ×2
$25,000
Also includes $15k in AWS credits and a meeting
Fire TV or Alexa+ track — 2nd
cash · ×2
$15,000
Also includes $5k in AWS credits
Fire TV or Alexa+ track — 3rd
cash · ×2
$4,000
Also includes $1k in AWS credits
Bee or Ring track — 1st
cash · ×2
$12,000
Bee or Ring track — 2nd
cash · ×2
$8,000
AWS Builder mini challenge
cash
$5,000
Also includes $5k in AWS credits; layered onto a primary-track project, not a separate entry
Open Source mini challenge
cash
$5,000
Also includes $5k in AWS credits

Eligibility

Individuals: eligible

Individuals who are at least the age of majority where they reside as of the time of entry ("Eligible Individuals")

Checked for one adult entering alone from Nevada, USA. Rules can differ by country, so read the rule quoted here for where you live.

Entry cost

Free to enter

Payout

mixed

Cash is mailed to the winner's address or sent electronically to their bank account, only after the winner affidavit and required forms are returned (due 10 business days after they are sent). A W-9 is required for US residents, and identity and role verification comes first.

Rights — what you give up

entrant-keeps

Submissions remain the entrant's intellectual property. The Sponsor gets a non-exclusive license to use the entry for judging.

Gotchas

The Bee track needs hardware. The rules require data "recorded and processed through an actual Bee device or an Apple Watch running the Bee software", and the demo must show a live data interaction.
The gated Alexa+ Add-on tools (Category SDK, MCP Toolkit, CLI, Web Simulator) are closed to hackathon participants. You must self-host an MCP server or Agent Skill, or build your own web simulation.
Fire TV demos must show the app running on Fire OS or Vega OS: a real device, the Fire TV/Vega simulator, or the Android TV Emulator (FAQ).
For Alexa+, Bee and Ring, the repo must actually import and call the track's technology at runtime; a README mention does not count. The simulated Alexa+ path is exempt.