AI Innovation Hackathon
Build Something Real. A two-stage competition organized by the AWS Student Builder Group, Raghu Engineering College, as part of AWS Student Community Day Vizag 2026. Build a working prototype in any domain you're passionate about, demo it live before an industry judging panel, and win.
$ build --demo --get-judged --win
#01 · Challenge
The Challenge
Pick any problem domain you care about. What matters is that your project does real work: a functional prototype that solves a meaningful problem with solid engineering, thoughtful design, and a working demo.
Need a starting point? Think of an AI agent that automates a campus workflow, a web app that solves a real student problem, an IoT prototype, a developer tool, a data dashboard, or a creative hack that makes you say 'why didn't this exist before?'
#02 · Format
How it works
This is not a build-in-one-afternoon event. You get two weeks to build something real, and the finals on September 19 are a live demo and judging round.
Open Build Round — Online
- Register solo or as a team (up to 2 members)
- Build your working prototype during the build period
- Submit your project by September 17, 11:59 PM
- Eligible submissions are reviewed and up to 10 finalist teams are selected for the final judging round
Final Demo & Judging Round
- Finalists present at Raghu Engineering College during AWS Student Community Day 2026
- 5 minutes — live demo + presentation
- 3 minutes — Q&A with the judging panel
- Each judge independently scores every finalist; the judging panel selects the winning teams, announced at the event
#03 · Eligibility & Submission
Who can enter & what you submit
Students Who are Registered to AWS SCD Vizag 2026 are Eligible
Individual participants or teams of up to 2.
Any Technology
Use the stack of your choice — any models, frameworks, or infrastructure. Use of AWS services is encouraged but not mandatory.
Working Prototype Required
Slides and ideas alone don't advance. Every submission must include a functioning implementation you can demonstrate live.
Your Submission Must Include
- Working prototype — a usable implementation, not just an idea
- GitHub repository — public, or private with organizer access
- One-page solution brief — problem, solution, AI/agent architecture, tech stack, key technical decisions, and observed results
- 2–3 minute demo video — showing the working system
The submission form, a solution brief template, and a participant guide will be emailed to all registered teams well before the deadline.
Minimum Finalist Requirements
- Working prototype: required
- Original work built for this hackathon: required
- Clear problem statement and technical depth: required
- Complete submission before deadline: required
- Team able to demonstrate and explain its own implementation: required
#04 · Timeline
Key milestones
#05 · Judging Criteria
Judging Criteria — 100 Points
Every finalist is evaluated independently by each member of the judging panel against the framework below. Final score is the average of all judges' scores; the panel resolves any ties.
Quality of implementation, system design, appropriate use of models/APIs/tools/infrastructure, engineering decisions, completeness of the working system.
Clarity of the problem being solved, depth of domain understanding, effectiveness of the solution, and how well the project addresses a real-world need.
How you evaluate your system: accuracy, robustness, failure handling, hallucination mitigation, safety considerations — evidence the solution actually works.
Novelty of the approach and originality in applying AI — going beyond a basic wrapper or an obvious implementation.
Importance of the problem, usefulness and feasibility of the solution, ability to operate in a realistic environment, potential impact.
Quality of the live demonstration and your ability to explain architecture, design decisions, limitations, and results — including answers to judges' technical questions.
#06 · Judging Panel
Meet the judges
An independent panel of industry and technology professionals with expertise across AI, cloud, data, and engineering. Each judge evaluates and scores every finalist team's work independently, and the panel selects the winning teams based on the consolidated scores.
Ramakant Yadav
Founder @ Scalar Field
AI, technology & entrepreneurship — building AI-driven products.
Neha Prasad
Analytics Specialist @ Amazon Web Services
Data, analytics, AI & cloud — advising organizations on large-scale data and AI solutions.
Srikanth
AWS Faculty Co-ordinator
Technology professional with expertise in engineering and innovation.
#07 · Prizes
What you win
Winners receive AI & developer tools — subscriptions, platform credits, and builder tools to keep building and shipping after the hackathon.
worth of AI & Developer Tools + Winner certificate
worth of AI & Developer Tools + Winner certificate
worth of AI & Developer Tools + Winner certificate
// total prize pool: ₹30,000 worth of AI & Developer Tools · all finalists receive finalist certificates
#08 · Rules
Competition rules
#09 · FAQ
Frequently asked
// hackathon.concluded
AI Innovation Hackathon has Concluded!
Submissions, live demos, and judging on September 19 at Raghu Engineering College are now complete. Congratulations to all our finalists and winners for building incredible real-world prototypes!