Keywords AI Hackathon - UIUC

Overview

This hackathon challenges you to build production-ready AI agents and applications over a weekend. Focus on real-world aspects like reliability and scalability, using tools provided by Keywords AI, Supabase, Trae, and Lovable. It's a great opportunity to go from idea to demo quickly and learn by shipping.

Requirements

Teams should have 2 to 5 members and all participants must be above the legal age of majority. You need to build an AI-powered product that solves a real problem, and submit it via Devpost by the deadline of February 1, 2026, at 4:00 PM UTC. Your submission must include your source code (as a .zip or repo link), a demo video (2 minutes max), and a brief write-up. You also need to post your demo video on X (Twitter) with #keywordsai-uiuc-hackathon and @keywordsai.

Prizes

There's over $2,350 in cash prizes, with $1,250 for first place and $500 for second place. First place also gets a guaranteed interview with Y Combinator X26 and other perks. Additional prizes include cash for 'Best Demo', 'Best Prompt', 'Best Product Design', 'Most Complex Agent Trace', and 'Funniest App', plus subscriptions and credits from sponsors like Lovable and Supabase, and gift cards from TRAE.