To be elligble for prizes, you must join the Discord where you will get announcements and updates

EurekaDEV 2026 — Innovation Without Limits

Hosts: Eureka Institute and Univa Dev 
Eureka Institute: Website | Instagram
Univa Dev: Website | Instagram
Contact: [email protected] or Discord

📅 Dates: September 27th - October 20th (5 weeks)
🌍 Location: Online (Discord for updates & collaboration) 

Overview

EurekaDev is a 5-week online innovation competition open to high school students worldwide that combines the spirit of a science fair with the creativity of a hackathon. Participants can code or research projects in diverse categories and present their work in a final symposium. Along the way, students will attend weekly workshops, hear from industry professionals, and gain valuable skills in problem-solving, teamwork, and pitching.

Whether you’re an experienced builder or a complete beginner, we encourage you to join! You can compete individually or with up to 4 teammates. Throughout the competition, there will be workshops and guest speaker panels covering computer science, AI, medicine, and more, so everyone has the chance to learn, innovate, and pitch their ideas.

 

What makes EurekaDEV unique?

Tracks

We offer two tracks so participants can showcase their strengths:

  1. Coding Track → apps, AI models, technical solutions
  2. Research Track → literature reviews, experimental designs, theoretical innovations

Subject Categories

Within each track, participants can choose from 6 categories:

  • Computer Science + AI (Technology)
  • Biology/Medical and Environmental Science
  • Math & Physics
  • Economics
  • Problem in the Community
  • Other 

 

Please make sure to:

  • Join on this Devpost
  • Join the Discord for announcements, workshops, and updates
  • Follow us on Instagram for updates!

Any other questions about EurekaDev? Email us at [email protected] or ask in the Questions channel on Discord!

 

Why join?

EurekaDev isn’t just about competing, it’s about learning, collaboration, and creating impact. Whether you want to code, research, or both, this is your chance to innovate across multiple categories and share your vision with a global community. Additionally, there's a chance to win awesome prizes and scholarships to research programs!

Requirements

What to Build

You must create a project in one of two tracks and in one of the subject categories:

  • Coding Track: Build a functional prototype, app, website, simulation, or other coded solution. Citations and evidence in your project description is a bonus!

  • Research Track: Conduct background research and create a literature review, theoretical framework, or experimental design around your chosen problem. A prototype is a bonus!

What to Submit

Project Video (Required) (Paste link in Video demo link field)

  • Maximum 4 minutes in length.
  • Must explain the problem, your solution, and how it works.
  • Can include demo footage, slides, or other visuals.

Written Project Description (Required) (About the project field)

  • Provide a detailed description of your idea/solution, including what makes it innovative.
  • Coding Track → include description of technologies used.
  • Research Track → include background research and references (if applicable).

Code or Research Documentation (Required)

NOTES:

  • Projects created before the hackathon timeframe are permitted, however they will receive a harsh point deducton.
  • AI use for writing code/research document is discouraged, but allowed. AI use for ideation and support is encouraged. Just know that quality is a judging criteria!

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$19,122 in prizes
1st Place – Coding Track
$1,327 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to the top project in the Coding track.
- Certificate
- CodeCrafters 2-year VIP membership ($720)
- 1-year subscription to NordVPN ($60)
- 1-year subscription to NordPass ($24)
- 1-year subscription to NordProtect ($90)
- 1-year subscription to Incogni ($96)
- 1 GB of free data for Saily ($9)
- 3-month access and €200 credit for nexos.ai (approximately $233)
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)
- Art of Problem Solving coupon ($25)
- Web development position at Eureka Institute

1st Place – Research Track
$607 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to the top project in the Research track.
- Certificate
- 1-year subscription to NordVPN ($60)
- 1-year subscription to NordPass ($24)
- 1-year subscription to NordProtect ($90)
- 1-year subscription to Incogni ($96)
- 1 GB of free data for Saily ($9)
- 3-month access and €200 credit for nexos.ai (approximately $233)
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)
- Art of Problem Solving coupon ($25)
- Leadership position at Eureka Institute

2nd Place – Coding Track
$967 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to the second-best project in the Coding track.
- Certificate
- CodeCrafters 1-year VIP membership ($360)
- 1-year subscription to NordVPN ($60)
- 1-year subscription to NordPass ($24)
- 1-year subscription to NordProtect ($90)
- 1-year subscription to Incogni ($96)
- 1 GB of free data for Saily ($9)
- 3-month access and €200 credit for nexos.ai (approximately $233)
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)
- Art of Problem Solving coupon ($25)
- Web development position at Eureka Institute

2nd Place – Research Track
$607 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to the second-best project in the Research track.
- Certificate
- 1-year subscription to NordVPN ($60)
- 1-year subscription to NordPass ($24)
- 1-year subscription to NordProtect ($90)
- 1-year subscription to Incogni ($96)
- 1 GB of free data for Saily ($9)
- 3-month access and €200 credit for nexos.ai (approximately $233)
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)
- Art of Problem Solving coupon ($25)
- Leadership position at Eureka Institute

3rd Place – Coding Track
$762 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to the third-best project in the Coding track.
- Certificate
- CodeCrafters 6-month VIP membership ($180)
- 1-year subscription to NordVPN ($60)
- 1-year subscription to NordPass ($24)
- 1-year subscription to NordProtect ($90)
- 1-year subscription to Incogni ($96)
- 1 GB of free data for Saily ($9)
- 3-month access and €200 credit for nexos.ai (approximately $233)
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)
- Web development position at Eureka Institute

3rd Place – Research Track
$582 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to the third-best project in the Research track.
- Certificate
- 1-year subscription to NordVPN ($60)
- 1-year subscription to NordPass ($24)
- 1-year subscription to NordProtect ($90)
- 1-year subscription to Incogni ($96)
- 1 GB of free data for Saily ($9)
- 3-month access and €200 credit for nexos.ai (approximately $233)
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)
- Leadership position at Eureka Institute

Honorable Mention
$70 in cash
10 winners

Awarded to the 10 next best submissions that did not place in the top 3.
- Certificate
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70 per recipient)
- Core team member position at Eureka Institute

Participation
$45 in cash
300 winners

All competitors will receive:
- Certificate of Participation
- InterviewBuddy Tier II Mock Interview Credit ($45 per participant)
- 15% and 20% discount coupons for expert-led InterviewBuddy sessions (value varies; not included in estimate)

Best Presentation / Pitch Video
$70 in cash
1 winner

Awarded to one project for outstanding presentation and pitching.
- InterviewBuddy Tier I AI Mock Interview Credit ($70)

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Zoe Xue

Zoe Xue
Eureka Institute President

Tahlia Smith
Eureka Institute Outreach

Yujin Cho
Eureka Institute President

Divyank Bajaj
Eureka Institute

Matteo Maina
Univa Dev

Eldiiar Bekbolotov
Univa Dev

Aashif Shaik
Eureka Institute Programs

Advay
Eureka Institute Programs

Sharath Chandra Kampili

Sharath Chandra Kampili

Ratna Kumar Bonagiri
IEEE Senior Member | ACM Certified Peer Reviewer | Distributed Systems, Data Platforms, Cloud and AI

Ujwal Suresh Vanjare

Ujwal Suresh Vanjare
Software Engineer

Mugdha Abhyankar
Software Engineer at Intuit | AI systems researcher and reviewer

Manjula

Manjula

Sarthika Dhawan

Ankur Bhatnagar
Senior IEEE Member

Vinitha Saro T

Vinitha Saro T

Aishwarya

Aishwarya

Aatish Kumar Dhami

Aatish Kumar Dhami
Founding Engineer at StyleFrame AI

Anudeep Bonagiri

Saiprasad Charudatta Shrikhande

Saiprasad Charudatta Shrikhande
Telecom, cybersecurity, and network engineering

Dulra Amolegbe

Dulra Amolegbe
Cofounder & CEO, AgentStatus

Palash Bansal

Nandish Nanjappa
Staff Software Engineer

Omer Dogan

Omer Dogan
CEO & Managing Director, Mono Apps

Urvish Gajjar

Urvish Gajjar
Sr. Test Manager | AI & QA Architecture

Nihar Karra
Principal Cloud Engineer, AWS

Sashank Agarwal
Senior Cloud Infrastructure and Software Engineer, NVIDIA

Chandra Bhushan Verma
Principal Software Engineer, Microsoft

Vincent Vu
Software Engineer, Applied AI at Paraform

Karishma Mandal

Karishma Mandal

Udayasree Kopperla

Udayasree Kopperla

Judging Criteria

  • Innovation & Creativity (25%)
    How original is the idea? 5: Exceptionally original idea; highly creative or novel approach. 3: Some creative elements; moderately unique solution. 1: Common or unoriginal concept with minimal innovation.
  • Impact & Relevance (25%)
    Does the project address a problem? 5: Addresses a significant real-world issue with clear potential for impact. 3: Relevant to real-world problems but with limited depth or scope. 1: Minimal connection to real-world applications or unclear relevance.
  • Execution & Technical Quality (25%)
    Coding Track → Is the solution functional, technically sound, and well-documented? Is the code high quality? Research Track → Is the research thorough, logical, and well-supported by evidence? Is the document written well?
  • Presentation & Communication (25%)
    Is the problem and solution clearly explained? Does the video/demo effectively showcase the project? Is the pitch engaging and professional?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

Tell your friends

Hackathon sponsors

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.