hackathon · online

Build With AI: Basics

When it actually closes

Safe cutoff

official rules

Stated: “October 26, 2026 at 5:00 pm ET”
Printed zone: ET
IANA zone: America/New_York
UTC: 2026-10-26T21:00:00Z
Your time: Mon Oct 26, 9:00 PM UTC (loading your time zone…)

Prizes

$2,500 cash · 3 slots

1st place: $1,250 USD cash. 2nd place: $750 USD cash. 3rd place: $500 USD cash. Each of the three also gets a Devpost newsletter feature, a short interview/profile and social media promotion. Every eligible participant gets a participation badge and Discord role, which are not cash. There are no separate sponsor or track prizes. Each project can win one prize plus one participation prize.

1st place
cash
$1,250
2nd place
cash
$750
3rd place
cash
$500

Eligibility

Individuals: eligible

"Individuals who are at least the age of majority where they reside as of the time of entry" (the overview adds "Ages 18+ only"). The US and Nevada are not on the excluded list.

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 in USD, paid by mail or electronic bank transfer to the individual, team Representative or organization. Payment comes within 60 days of Devpost receiving the completed winner affidavit and required forms.

Rights — what you give up

entrant-keeps

Entrants keep ownership of their work. The Sponsor gets a non-exclusive license to use the entry for judging. It may also use submission materials, names and likenesses for promotion, without payment or right of review, for three years. The repo must carry an open-source license.

Gotchas

The repo must be public and under an open-source license, per the rules. The overview page does not mention the license.
The project must be started from an empty folder with the Devpost Learn Skill Pack, and scope.md, prd.md and spec.md must be in the repo. Existing projects are not eligible.
The install step runs `npx skills add challengepost/learn-ai-basics`, which is third-party code. Review the repo before running it.
The overview page lists 3 judging criteria but the rules have 4, equally weighted, including Potential Impact. Plan for all 4.