HopHacks is the annual hackathon hosted at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. This event brings engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs together to explore new ideas, compete for prizes, and create amazing applications. For 36 hours, students work in teams of up to 4 to bring a software or hardware idea to life.
Teams start working on their hacks (at 9:00 PM) after the Friday evening kickoff event and continue working until Sunday morning (8:45 AM). All submissions MUST be made on Devpost. All submissions must be presented IN PERSON at HopHacks!
All of the prizes, including sponsored prizes, will be judged and announced at the opening ceremony. See https://hophacks.com for more information.
Requirements
What to Build
Build a working software or hardware project from scratch during HopHacks. Make something you are excited about.
- All work must be done during the hacking period, from 9:00 PM on Friday, September 18 to 9:00 AM on Sunday, September 20.
- Teams can have up to 4 members.
- Every project is automatically considered for the Best Overall prizes. You can also build toward ONE track prize and as many branded (opt-in) prizes as you like. Check each prize's requirements before you start.
- You must be able to demo your project in person to the judges on Sunday.
What to Submit
Submit your project on Devpost before hacking ends at 9:00 AM on Sunday, September 20. Only one person per team should submit, and that person must add all teammates to the submission.
- GitHub link of repo containing source code. Your first commit must be AFTER the start of hacking. Your last commit must be BEFORE the end of hacking. DO NOT edit your repo beyond this point. Make sure the repo is public so judges can view it.
- Project description: what it does, how you built it, and the tools and technologies you used.
- Prize selections: on the submission form, select the track (at most one) and any branded prizes you want to be considered for.
- All teammates added to your project submission.
- Optional but encouraged: screenshots and a short demo video (under 3 minutes).
All submissions must be presented IN PERSON at HopHacks. Judging is science-fair style, so be ready to demo your project to the judges at your table.
Prize Rules
- All teams will be considered for the General track.
- Each team can ONLY apply for 1 track. If you select more than one track prize, your project may not be considered for any of them.
- Each team can apply for multiple opt-in challenges (make sure you meet each challenge's requirements).
Prizes
Best Overall Hack
1st Place - $1024 + ElevenLabs 3 months Pro tier ($297 value, 600k credits/month)
2nd Place - $512
3rd Place - $256
[DSAI + marimo] Best Data Visualization (Track - choose only one)
1st Place - $800
2nd Place - $500
3rd Place - $300
[Bloomberg] Most Philanthropic Hack (Track - choose only one)
Beats Headphones
[Calcifer Computing] Best Memetics Hack (Track - choose only one)
$1,000, winner takes all
[Forge] Best Healthcare Hack (Track - choose only one)
1st Place Team - $2,000, contingent on joining the Forge cohort
[SpacetimeDB] Best Use of SpacetimeDB (Track - choose only one)
1st Place - $500
2nd Place - $200
3rd Place - $100
[Auctor AI] From Conversation to Action (Branded Prize)
Auctor merch for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place and internship interviews!
[SpaceXAI] Make it Legendary (Branded Prize)
4 Cursor keyboards for the winning team, awarded at the closing ceremony.
Anyone who submits to this challenge will be entered to win a Cursor Owala water bottle.
[OPEF] Environmental Intelligence Challenge (Branded Prize)
$250 to the winning team, plus internship interviews for the top-performing teams
[ElevenLabs] Best Use of ElevenLabs (Branded Prize)
Wireless Earbuds and each winning team member receives 6 months of the ElevenLabs Scale tier ($1,794 value, 1.8M credits/month).
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 Gemini API (Branded 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?
[MLH] Best Use of Solana (Branded 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!
[MLH] Best Use of Tiger Data (Branded Prize)
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 Backboard (Branded Prize)
Tile Essentials Pack
Every AI model API is stateless by default. That means your app forgets everything the second a session ends. State management should be the first step of any AI build, regardless of what LLM you are using, and Backboard gives you that for free. But Backboard is not just state management. It is a single, unified API built on the world’s #1 AI memory that gives you everything you need in one place: long-term memory, RAG, embeddings, tool calls, model routing across 17,000+ LLMs, and persistent context that stays alive across every page refresh, session, and user. No stitching together five different services. One API. One integration. Built on the best memory in AI.
Here’s just a small list of things Backboard can make possible for your AI app!
AI-powered Travel Guide: Remembers allergies and preferences from past trips.
Personalized Fitness Coach: Adjusts workouts based on progress and injury history.
Smart Home Controller: Learns routines over time to anticipate lighting and climate preferences!
Use Backboard to build a seamless, persistent user experience without the usual infrastructure headache! Each winning team member will receive a Tiles Essentials Pack because, just like AI, we all need an occasional reminder of where things are!
[MLH] Best Use of DigitalOcean (Branded Prize)
Retro Wireless Mouse
DigitalOcean offers a reliable and easy-to-use cloud platform for every stage of your project. Leverage core services like Droplets, Managed Databases, and App Platform to build, deploy, and scale your application effortlessly. Building with AI? DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI enables you to build, train, and deploy machine learning models, including access to GPU infrastructure and serverless inference!
Sign up for DigitalOcean today and get $200 worth of free credits that you can use towards building your next great hack. Build with DigitalOcean’s robust cloud infrastructure for a chance to win some great prizes for you and each of your teammates!
[MLH] Best Use of Snowflake API (Branded Prize)
Raspberry Pi 4
Play with industry-leading LLMs on a single account using the Snowflake APIs. Adding AI capabilities into your application can be as simple as a single CURL command to Snowflake’s REST API.
Build customized applications, RAG powered chat bots, or embed AI-powered features into your app in half the time with half the hassle. Get started for free with a special, student 120-day Snowflake trial and check out this repository for an example of the Snowflake REST API in action.
[MLH] Best Domain Name from GoDaddy Registry (Branded Prize)
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!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
TBD
Judging Criteria
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General Prize Criteria
Hacks will be judged based equally on 4 criteria: polish (of app and presentation), usefulness, creativity, technical difficulty.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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