We bring together hundreds of high school students from across the Bay Area to work together and make their ideas a reality.
We'll provide the food, refreshments and hacking spaces for you—the hackers—to do your magic. Just bring your ideas and your passion!
Los Altos Hacks X will take place at the Aspiration Dome in Sunnyvale, California on April 11-12, 2026.
All high schoolers are welcome to our tenth year — and it'll be our best yet! With over 300 participants, we'll be having a blast while learning many valuable coding skills along the way. No coding experience is required; there's a place for everyone at our hackathon!
As always, Los Altos Hacks will be 100% free, including prizes, four free meals, swag, mentorship, and much more!
For more information and to sign up, visit losaltoshacks.com. See you on April 11-12th!
Requirements
What to Build:
Anything!
You Must:
Select which sponsor prize(s) you are applying for
Specify if anyone on your team is a beginner
Prizes
1st place
$1000 in cash
3d printers for each team member
$200 mo/ 6months in Vercel Credits
2nd place
$750 in cash
$100 mo/ 6months in Vercel Credits
3rd place
$350 in cash
$50 mo/ 6months in Vercel Credits
Most Technically Complex
Drones for each team member
Best UI/UX
Wacom drawing tablets for each team member
Best Beginner Hack
Anker wireless chargers for each team member
Best Fun Hack
Giant teddy bears
Best Social Impact Hack
Fifine microphones for each team member
Best Solo Hack – Presented by Framework
Framework laptop
[Palantir] Best Use of Palantir AIP – 1st Place
$700 in cash
Tour of Palantir office
[Palantir] Best Use of Palantir AIP – 2nd Place
$400 in cash
Tour of Palantir office
[AMD] Best Use of AI powered by AMD GPUs - 1st Place
$600 in cash
$500 GPU credits per person
[AMD] Best Use of AI powered by AMD GPUs – 2nd Place
$300 in cash
$250 GPU credits per person
[MLH] Best Use of ElevenLabs
Wireless Earbuds
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 Solana
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 GenAI
Assorted Prizes
Generative AI is rapidly changing the landscape of software development. This category challenges you to build novel applications that leverage the power of Generative AI APIs. Think outside the box and integrate cutting-edge AI models to create innovative solutions with real-world impact.
To participate, utilize publicly available Generative AI APIs (like those from OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face, Llama, IBM Watson, or Google Gemini) to develop a unique and functional application. This could include:
AI-powered creative tools: Design an app that allows users to generate unique marketing copy, translate languages in real-time, or create personalized learning experiences.
Intelligent assistants and automation: Build a chatbot that can provide insightful customer support, or a system that automates complex tasks using natural language processing.
Next-generation content creation platforms: Develop a platform that empowers users to generate high-quality images, write different kinds of creative text formats, or compose original music with AI assistance.
This is your chance to get hands on with cutting edge tech, put your skills on display, and of course, win some awesome prizes!
[MLH] Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
M5Stack IoT Kit
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 headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your group.
[MLH] Best .Tech Domain Name
Desktop Microphone & a Free .Tech Domain Name for up to 10 years!
Make your Team's Achievements timeless: Win a .Tech Domain Name for up to 10 years to Showcase and Expand Your Project, Plus Desktop Mics for Effortless Collaboration on Zoom, empowering you to build even more cool things together!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Divyank Shah
Gianna Sen-Gupta
Dikshit Khandelwal
Shubham Sable
Neha Shewani
Gediminas Pazera
Ankur Oberai
Kunal Mulwani
Charan Shettyhalli Guruswamy
Mitchelle Ashley Creado
Jay Thakkar
Daniel Wang
Daniel Carlander
Nitu Sharaff
Johairi Bernard
Jamsheed Mistri
Dylan Mehandru
Sridhar Pavithrapu
Sunil Kumar Vadlamani
Siddhant Ekale
Sohil Vinod Shah
George Cooper
Tony Nguyen
Luxin Zhang
Peter Nguyen
Shae Alhusayni
Yashwant Yarlagadda
Judging Criteria
-
Originality
Is the hack novel and inventive? Does it take a fresh approach to a real problem? Is it original and unique? -
Technical Difficulty
Is the hack technically interesting or difficult? Is it just some lipstick on an API, or were there real technical challenges to surmount? -
Polish
Is the hack usable in its current state? Is the user experience smooth? Does everything appear to work? Is it well designed? -
Real World Impact
Is the hack practical? Is it something people would actually use? Does it solve a real problem?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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