In the spirit of innovation and with a nod to the past, we proudly present MHacks 2026, a coding marathon set to redefine the boundaries of creativity and technology. Born from the legacy of the renowned hackathons at the University of Michigan, this reimagined hackathon aims to capture the essence of its predecessors while infusing new energy and excitement into the hackathon landscape.
The most hype hackathon in the world is BACK for 2026, come build something that grows.
Requirements
Registration
You must be a registered MHacks 2026 participant.
What to Build
Anything and everything. There is no limit.
What to Submit
Hackers should make a Devpost submission to this hackathon Devpost.
Prizes
Grand Prize
3 months of the Pro tier on ElevenLabs per team member ($297 value/member, 600k credits/mo)
Sustainability Track Winner
Actually Intelligent (AI) Track Winner
FinTech Track Winner
Beyond the Code Track Winner
Best Use of Notability Winner
1 year of Notability Pro + Exclusive Notability merch
FinchNode (HealthTech)
1st Place: Apple Watch SE3 + 3 months free FinchNode development plan, 2nd Place: $500 + 3 months free FinchNode development plan, 3rd Place: 3 months free FinchNode development plan
FetchAI ASI:One Agent Challenge
1st Place: $1250, 2nd Place: $750, 3rd Place: $500
Best Project Built with ElevenLabs Winner
3 months of the Scale tier per team member ($897 value/member, 1.8M credits/mo).
Photon iMessage Agents Track Winner
1st Place: $400 cash + $300 Photon credits, 2nd Place: $200 cash + $100 Photon credits
Best Use of Neon Backend
1st Place: $1,000 in AI Gateway credits, 2nd Place: $500 in AI Gateway credits, 3rd Place: $100 in AI Gateway credits
Best Use of FREE-WILi
FREE WILi Kits for each team member
Relay Interactive Agents Track Winner
1st Place: A trip to San Francisco, a week at the Relay house, and Exclusive Relay Hoodie + Stickers + Eye Masks for each member, 2nd Place: Exclusive Relay Hoodie + Stickers + Eye Masks for each member
SpaceXAI Make it Legendary Track Winner
SpaceXAI Mechanical Keyboards
(Anyone who submits to this challenge will be entered to win a Cursor Owala water bottle)
Figma Best Design Track
1st Place: LEGO architecture set + Figma Merchandise, 2nd & 3rd Place: Figma Merchandise
Best Use of Spacetime
1st Place: $1000, 2nd Place: $500, 3rd Place: $200
Best Use of Nessie @ Capital One
1st Place: $300 Giftogram gift card per team member. One premium swag item for each participant, 2nd Place: $75 Giftogram gift card per team member. One premium swag item for each participant, 3rd Place: $25 Giftogram gift card per team member. One premium swag item for each participant.
[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
SenseCAP Card Tracker
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 Gemini API
MLH 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 Tiger Data
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 Presage
Fitbit Inspire & Presage Perks
Presage is pioneering the Human Sensing Layer, enabling any application to understand a person’s real-time physical and emotional state. With Presage, you can leverage clinically-proven vital signs, movement, emotion, and/or focus tracking to build a project that gives the standard camera super powers.
Use any of the Presage SDKs to integrate capabilities like real-time heart rate, breathing rate, engagement levels, and facial expressions into your hack with just a few lines of code.
Immersive Gaming & Entertainment: Dynamically change game difficulty or story elements based on a player's excitement or focus levels.
Contactless Wellness & Fitness: Build a non-invasive app that monitors stress, recovery, or fitness performance.
Accessibility & Security: Utilize vital signs for effortless authentication, or to enhance accessibility.
Productivity: Design a tool that tracks focus or stress.
Build your next hack with Presage and show us the future of human-computer interaction! Win awesome prizes along for with the following perks from the Presage team:
Free refills for Presage Development credits to accelerate you through your next three months of building
30% off all Presage usage charges for your first year after going live
[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!
Useless AI
A useless prize.
Dumbest Idea
Bop It! Twist It! Pull It! Bop It! Bop It! Bop It! Bop It! Bop It! Bop It! Bop It!
Judged by an LLM
Might as well let the LLM decide the prize too!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
MHacks
MHacks
Judging Criteria
-
Innovation
Originality and uniqueness of the idea or solution. Creative problem-solving and novel approaches to challenges. Demonstrated innovation in addressing real-world issues or needs. -
Technical Complexity
Depth of technical implementation and sophistication. Effective utilization of advanced technologies, tools, and programming languages. Robustness and scalability of the technical solution. -
Usability
Intuitiveness and user-friendliness of the project. Accessibility and inclusivity in design and functionality. Consideration of the end-user experience and potential impact on a broader audience. -
Adherence to Theme
Alignment with the specified hackathon theme or challenge. Clear demonstration of how the project addresses and contributes to the theme. Creativity in interpreting and incorporating the theme into the project.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Invite others to compete
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