Get ready for SharkByte 2026, INIT MDC's amazing hackathon! SharkByte 2026 will be a weekend filled with creativity, coding, and collaboration. Students will come together to learn, build, and share ideas, with eachother to flex their skills (fins if we may.)
Explore the horizons of tech through the many workshops, activities, fun, and food to help spark inspiration along the way.
Requirements
Attach your GitHub Repository to your Submission Link and refer to your hacker guide for more instructions
[Hacker Guide]
Prizes
1st Place Overall
4x 11-Inch IPad A16 AND
ManaTech Bundle: 4x 6 month subscription ~ $150 per month $3600 + Office hours with mentors (legal, marketing, business)
2nd Place Overall
4x Samsung 27’ Odyssey G5 Gaming Monitor
3rd Place Overall
4x N-Gen Gaming Chair , BOSE Speaker (SharkByte logo imprint)
First Time Hacker
Sony WH-CH720N Headphones, $25 Visa Giftcard
Best Use of Hardware
4x Raspberry Pi 5’s 4GB
[MLH] Build Your Hackathon A-Team with SpaceXSI
Mechanical Keyboard
Your hackathon A-team just got two new members. Build your hackathon project with Cursor and Grok Bot this weekend to qualify for the SpaceXSI raffle. Every member on the winning team walks away with a custom-branded Cursor mechanical keyboard.
Here’s how you qualify:
Use Cursor as your core AI coding agent
Integrate a Grok Bot automation into your workflow
In your project description, describe how you use both Cursor and Grok Bot.
Submit your project and be sure to opt-in to the Make it Legendary with SpaceXSI raffle.
[MLH] Best Use of Gemini API
MLH Swag Kits
It’s time to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI using Google Gemini. Check out the Gemini API to build AI-powered apps that make your friends say WHOA. So, what can Gemini do for your hackathon project?
Understand language like a human and build a chatbot that gives personalized advice
Analyze info like a supercomputer and create an app that summarizes complex research papers
Generate creative content like code, scripts, music, and more
Think of the possibilities… what will you build with the Google Gemini API this weekend?
[MLH] Best Use of Solana
Unruggable Hardware Wallets
The world of development is evolving fast and Solana is leading the charge with a network built to handle all of your infrastructure needs. Forget high fees and slow confirmations, it’s time to build applications that are fast, efficient, and scalable.
Harness Solana’s core advantages like blazing fast execution and near-zero transaction costs to make your hackathon ideas become real world projects. With Solana, the possibilities are endless.
Create a game, social app, or consumer product that relies on instant, high-frequency transactions.
Design a sophisticated trading, lending, or decentralized exchange (DEX).
Build a prototype for supply chain, identity, or payments that can handle massive, real-world volume.
Show us how you can innovate with Solana for a chance to win Unruggable Hardware Wallets for you and each member of your team!
[MLH] Best Use of Tiger Data
Stream Deck Mini
Building high-performance apps under hackathon deadlines shouldn't mean spending half your weekend configuring complex databases or learning obscure query languages. Tiger Data extends PostgreSQL to give student developers an ultra-fast foundation for real-time data, time-series metrics, and complex analytics.
Why build with Tiger Data this weekend?
Standard SQL Power: Query massive datasets instantly using the SQL you already know, with no complex NoSQL aggregation pipelines required.
Unified Data Stack: Store relational user profiles and high-frequency metric streams side-by-side in a single database.
Instant Dashboards: Serve lag-free, real-time frontend charts using pre-computed Continuous Aggregates.
90%+ Data Compression: Store millions of events on free-tier cloud instances without running out of disk space.
Whether you’re building real-time IoT monitoring, AI-driven analytics dashboards, or financial prediction engines, show us how Tiger Data powers your project. The team that demonstrates the most innovative, impactful, and performance-driven use of Tiger Data will take home some great prizes!
[MLH] Best Use of Vultr
Assorted Prizes
Vultr empowers hackers to bring their high-performance projects to life instantly; providing everything from the speed of one-click deployment and scalable cloud compute, to specialized Vultr Cloud GPUs that can power AI-driven applications. We want you to push the limits of what can be built when infrastructure is no longer the bottleneck!
Sign up for a Vultr account today and claim your free cloud credits! Take your next hack to the cloud with Vultr for a chance to win some awesome prizes for you and your team!
[MLH] Best Use of Auth0
Wireless Headphones
Auth0 wants your applications to be secure! Why spend hours building features like social sign-in, Multi-Factor Authentication, and passwordless log-in when you can enable them through Auth0 straight out of the box? You can also secure your AI applications with Auth0 for AI Agents.
Auth0 is free to try, doesn’t require a credit card, and allows for up to 7,000 free active users and unlimited log-ins. Make your new account today and use any of the Auth0 APIs for a chance to win a pair of wireless headphones for you and each member of your team!
[MLH] Best Domain Name from GoDaddy Registry
Digital Gift Card
GoDaddy Registry is giving you everything you need to be the best hacker no matter where you are. Register your domain name with GoDaddy Registry for a chance to win some amazing prizes!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
INIT National
Judging Criteria
-
TBD
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Invite others to compete
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.


















