About the challenge

By challenging participants to solve real-world problems with technology, KatyYouthHacks aims to inspire the next generation of developers. Our theme for this year is Tech for Humanity, and will guide participants to take a greater role in creating solutions that benefit the community while encouraging students to engage in computer science and tech development.

For more information, visit our website at https://katyhacks.replit.app/

Join our discord: https://discord.gg/YggPxHPaEJ

Get started

Our hackathon is open to innovators of all skill levels! This hacakthon is open to middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students.

Join our discord to get started: https://discord.gg/YggPxHPaEJ

Participation instructions: 
Click join hackathon on devpost to join!

Participant prizes:

Sponsor Prizes

Guaranteed Admission to the YRI Fellowship (No Application Review Required)

Exclusive Access to Non-Trivial's Referral Network

.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration) for the First 350 Participants

3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan

$15 JLCPCB Coupons

 

300 MeDo Credits

*all prizes will be per team, not per person, unless specified

 

KATY YOUTH HACKS 2026 SCHEDULE

All times are in Central Daylight Time (CDT).

 

AUGUST 1

8:00 PM — Opening Ceremony

Hosted by the Katy Youth Hacks Team

HACKATHON BEGINS

 

AUGUST 2

12:00 PM — Context Architecture: The Missing Layer in Vibe Coding

Learn a six-file framework for keeping AI aligned as your app grows.

 

4:00 PM — Choosing the Right Machine Learning Model

 

AUGUST 3

8:00 AM — SUBMISSIONS DUE

 

AUGUST 5

11:00 AM — Closing Ceremony and Winner Announcements

 

Requirements

What to Build

Any project that uses tech to benefit humanity, including apps, websites, chatbots, robots, etc. Feel free to make low code/design only projects!

What to Submit

1. Demo Video of your project in action (2-3 min)

 

2. Link to your project (Github, Figma, etc)

 

*note that cross-submission of projects is allowed, as long as the other hackathons you are submitting to also allow this. 

 

 

 

In order to maintain fairness, our intention is for all participants start their projects from scratch. However, prior to that, you are welcome to engage in brainstorming sessions to generate ideas.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

6 non-cash prizes
1st Place
1 winner

Guaranteed Admission & Free Tuition to Leaf's Selective Fall Cohort
2-Year CodeCrafters VIP Memberships
7-Day Full Access to Interview Cake's Coding Interview Prep Course
CleanShot X Licenses
Partial Scholarship to the YRI Fellowship
Oxide Computer T-Shirts
.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration)
3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan
$15 JLCPCB Coupons
12-Month SkillBit Labs Pro Memberships
1,500 MeDo Credits for Each Team Member

2nd Place
1 winner

Guaranteed Admission & Free Tuition to Leaf's Selective Fall Cohort
1-Year CodeCrafters VIP Memberships
7-Day Full Access to Interview Cake's Coding Interview Prep Course
CleanShot X Licenses
Partial Scholarship to the YRI Fellowship
.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration)
3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan
$15 JLCPCB Coupons
6-Month SkillBit Labs Pro Memberships
1,000 MeDo Credits for Each Team Member

3rd Place
1 winner

Guaranteed Admission & Free Tuition to Leaf's Selective Fall Cohort
6-Month CodeCrafters VIP Memberships
7-Day Full Access to Interview Cake's Coding Interview Prep Course
CleanShot X Licenses
Partial Scholarship to the YRI Fellowship
.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration)
3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan
$15 JLCPCB Coupons
500 MeDo Credits for Each Team Member
3-Month SkillBit Labs Pro Memberships

Best Design
1 winner

7-Day Full Access to Interview Cake's Coding Interview Prep Course
Partial Scholarship to the YRI Fellowship
.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration)
3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan
$15 JLCPCB Coupons
3-Month SkillBit Labs Pro Memberships
300 MeDo Credits

Best Beginner Hack
1 winner

7-Day Full Access to Interview Cake's Coding Interview Prep Course
Partial Scholarship to the YRI Fellowship
.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration)
3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan
$15 JLCPCB Coupons
3-Month SkillBit Labs Pro Memberships
300 MeDo Credits

Honorable Mention
1 winner

Honorable Mention Certificate
7-Day Full Access to Interview Cake's Coding Interview Prep Course
Partial Scholarship to the YRI Fellowship
.xyz Domains (1-Year Registration)
3 Months of Browserbase Developer Plan
$15 JLCPCB Coupons
3-Month SkillBit Labs Pro Memberships
300 MeDo Credits

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Saanvi Kondaskar

Saanvi Kondaskar
Organizer @ Katy Youth Hacks

Suresh Kumar Gunasekaran

Suresh Kumar Gunasekaran
Senior Software Engineer at Walmart Global Tech

Jeet Mehta

Jeet Mehta
Senior Software Engineer at Netflix

Mitchelle Creado

Mitchelle Creado
Software Engineer at Microsoft

Sarvesh Gupta

Sarvesh Gupta
Consulting Member of Technical Staff at Oracle

Sithara Solayappan

Sithara Solayappan
Organizer @ Katy Youth Hacks

Judging Criteria

  • Creativity
    Is your hack a novel and unique concept? Did it take a new approach to an existing solution?
  • Theme
    Does it promote tech for humanity? Is it a viable solution to this issue?
  • Functionality
    Does your hack work as intended? Was sufficient time put into the execution of the hack?
  • Presentation
    How informative and compelling was your presentation? Did you discuss the process of building your hack and the challenges you faced?
  • Design
    Is your hack user-friendly and intuitive? Is it easy to use?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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Hackathon sponsors

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