Cosmo Hacks 2026

about this event

Cosmo Hacks is a free four day online hackathon for middle school, high school, and college students aged 13+, taking place from December 18 to December 21, 2026.

Theme: Tech for Student & Community Life. Build a useful project that solves one clear problem for students, schools, or local communities.

Your project can be an app, game, website, tool, experiment, or another creative solution. Focus on identifying a real problem and building something that could make student or community life easier, better, or more effective.

Students can compete alone or in teams of up to four, with all teammates in the same division. Beginners are welcome, and participants will have access to workshops, mentors, sponsor resources, and support through Discord throughout the event.

Cosmo Hacks has a confirmed $300 cash prize pool (more cash will be added soon) and over $150,000 in sponsor benefits, including software credits, API credits, cloud tools, domains, memberships, scholarships, workshops, and other resources.

We'll email certificates to all participants, judges, and mentors after the event.

Building runs December 18 at 3:00 PM CST through December 21 at noon CST. See the full event schedule.

Theme and AI: All projects must address student or community life. AI tools are allowed; disclose how you used them and be ready to explain your work. AI use does not automatically lower your score. The AI Hackathon's rules on disclosure apply to every submission.

Eligibility: Required submission materials, original work, and the deadline are checked separately, not awarded extra points.

How judging works: Both divisions are ranked separately using five criteria worth 20 points each: creativity, functionality, technical implementation, impact and theme fit, and presentation. Judges score projects on external score sheets using the 0–20 rubric; organizers average the project scores and add verified workshop bonuses separately. Workshop participation earns up to 2 bonus points per team per workshop, regardless of how many teammates attend. If you cannot attend live, watch the recording and submit a short takeaway through the attendance form. The event remains fully online. Read the full rubric, score guide, workshop bonus, and tie-breakers.

Discord invite challenge: Our Discord invite referral program awards a $10 Amazon gift card for first place and a $5 Amazon gift card for second place. Join Discord for tracking and full details. This award is separate from project judging.

Get ready to build: Use our builder guide for project starting points, a submission checklist, and demo tips. The Resources tab brings together helpful event links, sponsor offers, and ways to find teammates or ask questions.

Community partnerships: Robotics teams, student groups, and companies can support student prizes or discuss an educational session. See partnership options or email sponsors@cosmohacks.com.

tracks

when

tickets

prizes

faq