Gator Hack V is the hackathon of UF AI Days 2026, hosted by the University of Florida. For 48 hours, 250+ students from every major and skill level come together to build, learn, and ship something incredible.
The event is open to currently enrolled students from any school, and it is in person only: finalists present live at Monday's closing ceremony.
Now in its fifth year, Gator Hack has grown from an inaugural 24-hour sprint in 2022 into UF's flagship builder event: 10+ workshops, mentors from industry and campus, free meals all weekend, and 75+ projects built each year. Whether you are writing your first line of code or shipping your tenth side project, there is a place for you here.
When: Friday, October 23 at 5:00 PM through Sunday, October 25 at 5:00 PM (ET)
Where: Newell Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Finals and Awards: Monday, October 26. The top 10 teams present live on stage from 10:15 to 11:15 AM at the Reitz Union, and winners are announced at the AI Student Competition Awards at 12:15 PM.
What makes it special
- It is hosted by the university as part of UF AI Days, so you are building alongside the largest AI event on campus.
- Projects are judged by UF graduate students, and the top 10 teams demo live on stage at the Reitz Union.
- $5,000+ in prizes across the main awards ($2,000, $1,000, and $500) and sponsor prizes from Twinly, Vobile, and MLH, since this is an official MLH Hack Day.
Weekend at a glance
- Friday, Oct 23: The tentative schedule lists check-in at 3:30 PM, the opening ceremony and the start of hacking at 5 PM, and dinner at 6:30 PM (Publix platters). Workshop times will be announced.
- Saturday, Oct 24: Breakfast at 8 AM, lunch at 1 PM (pizza), dinner at 7 PM (Panda Express), and workshop blocks throughout the day
- Sunday, Oct 25: Breakfast at 9:30 AM, mentor office hours, lunch at 1:30 PM (Mi Apa Latin Café), final push, submissions due 5 PM. Judging happens offline that night, and the 10 finalists are announced live at Monday's ceremony, so be there to find out if your team made it
- Monday, Oct 26: Top 10 finalists present on stage from 10:15 to 11:15 AM at the Reitz Union, followed by lunch and the AI Student Competition Awards at 12:15 PM, where winners are announced
Full schedule and details: https://ufgatorhack.com/
Requirements
What to build: Anything you are excited about! Build a working software project (hardware welcome too) during the hacking period. You can aim for the main awards, or a sponsor prize (Twinly, Vobile, MLH Best Use of Gemini, MLH Best Open Source Project), and one project can win multiple prizes it qualifies for.
What to submit on Devpost by Sunday, October 25 at 5:00 PM ET:
- A project title and a short description of what it does and how you built it
- A link to your public code repository (e.g. GitHub)
- A demo video (3 minutes maximum) or slides showing your project in action; an honest work-in-progress demo is fine
- Your full team roster (2 to 5 members), with every member registered for the event
- The sponsor prizes you want to be considered for
Late submissions cannot be accepted, so leave buffer time before the deadline.
Prizes
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
Vobile Prize
A major prize for Vobile's top pick, amount to be announced. Judged on the same challenge statement as the main awards. Presented by Vobile.
Top 10 Finalist
Selected as one of the top 10 projects that presented on the Monday ceremony.
Most Popular
Most amount of votes on devpost
1st Place Twinly API
1st: A fast tracked internship interview, $750 in Twinly usage credit + 3 months of Twinly Max for each team member. Build with our new APIs: computer use, voice-clone calling and iMessage. macOS only. Docs: twinly.tech/docs/developer-api
2nd Place Twinly API
$500 in Twinly usage credit + 3 months of Twinly Pro for each team member. Build with our new APIs: computer use, voice-clone calling and iMessage. macOS only. Docs: twinly.tech/docs/developer-api
Best Use of Gemma (MLH)
MLH swag for each team member. Build something with Gemma, Google's open model, either free on the Gemini API (via Google AI Studio) or running locally. Name the Gemma model in your README. Presented by MLH, since Gator Hack V is an official MLH Hack Day.
Best Open Source Project (MLH)
A $25 gift card for each team member. Your project must be a public GitHub repository with a clear open-source license. Presented by MLH, since Gator Hack V is an official MLH Hack Day.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Stephen Wormald, Ph.D.
Director of Machine Learning, DrawInsight
Jhonathan Herrera
Member of Technical Staff, Human Delta
Aaron Goffstein
Product Manager, Epic Systems
Michael Tomadakis
Computer Vision Ph.D. Student
Sahaj Patel
Software Engineer, Dell
Kristian O'Connor
Software Engineer, Apple
Emily Jiji
Software Engineer, Microsoft AI
Agustin Giraldo
Power Systems Engineer, Eatom
Patrick Lapid
Software Engineer, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Sebastian Sosa
Incoming Member of Technical Staff, Sevvy
Eric Chao
Analyst, Churchill Asset Management
Judging Criteria
-
Impact
How meaningful is the problem being addressed, and how useful or beneficial could the solution be to its intended users? -
Technical Execution
How well does the project work? Consider technical ambition, implementation quality, creativity, and what the team accomplished during the hacking period. -
Design & Usability
Is the experience intuitive, accessible, and thoughtfully designed? Does the interface help users understand and use the solution effectively? -
Presentation & Demo
How clearly does the team explain the problem, solution, technical approach, and limitations? Does the demo effectively show the project in action? -
Novelty
How new your idea is, and how new the tools behind it are.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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