Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon 2026: $50,000 in cash and how to enter

The Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon offers $50,000 in cash prizes for builders who ship a working AI app, agent or robot project on Nebius using an open NVIDIA model. The Grand Prize is $20,000, entries close on Friday 30 October 2026 at 10:00 am Pacific Time, which is 17:00 UTC, and adults, teams and organisations in most countries can enter. Two official offers give you up to $50 in free Nebius Token Factory credits, and teams of any size are welcome.

This guide takes you from a blank Devpost account to a finished Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon entry: the four tracks, every date in Pacific Time and UTC with your own local time in the dates table, the full prize table, who can enter worldwide, the platform rule you cannot work around, and the forms winners must return. More than 24,000 people had registered by 17 October 2026, and every entry has to clear the same pass/fail check before a judge scores anything.

The project ideas and tips near the end are our own suggestions and are marked that way.

Hackathon guide · Nebius, co-branded with NVIDIA, run on Devpost

Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon

Open

Time left to submitFri 30 Oct 2026, 17:00 UTC

Last moment to submit: Fri 30 Oct 2026, 17:00 UTC

Prize pool

$50,000 cash

$20,000 Grand Prize, plus 4 NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano kits for track winners

Deadline (UTC)

Fri 30 Oct 2026, 17:00 UTC

Friday, October 30, 2026 (10:00 am Pacific Time), which is PDT (UTC-7) on that date

Who can enter

Adults, teams and organisations in most countries

Brazil, Quebec, Russia, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and other OFAC-sanctioned places excluded

Format

Online, on Devpost

Four tracks, and you pick one per submission

Open the official pageOfficial rulesAll open hackathons

Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon: the short answer

What is Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon?

The Nebius x NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon is an online, public hackathon. A hackathon is a contest where you build a working project inside a fixed window and judges score the result. This one runs on Devpost, a website that hosts online hackathons, handles registration and collects submissions. Nebius B.V., based in Schiphol in the Netherlands, is the sponsor; Devpost, Inc. is the administrator; and the event is co-branded with NVIDIA. The official theme is “Build the next frontier of AI on open infrastructure.” An agent, in plain terms, is an AI program that plans steps and uses tools to finish a task instead of answering a single question.

Every entry has to clear one technical bar. It must run on Nebius Token Factory or Nebius AI Cloud, and it must use at least one NVIDIA open source model. Token Factory is Nebius’s hosted service for AI models: your code sends a request to its inference API, a web address that runs the model and sends back the answer, so you never manage the model yourself. Nebius AI Cloud is Nebius’s computing platform, and the rules also accept projects deployed on three of its compute services they name: Serverless Jobs, Serverless Endpoints and DevPods. Serverless simply means Nebius runs the machine for you and you supply the code. An NVIDIA open source model is one NVIDIA publishes openly for anyone to use, such as the Nemotron family, or the GR00T, Cosmos and Sonic models the Physical AI track names.

You enter one of four tracks per submission. Coding and Agentic Engineering is for coding agents and developer tools, meaning agents that write, run and test code using Token Factory. Best Apps and Agents is for any app or agent someone would actually use, powered by Nemotron models through Token Factory; the track suggests Nemotron 3 Ultra for heavy reasoning and Nano or Super for fast calls. Personal AI is for an always-on private assistant with persistent memory, reusable skills and tool access that keeps your data under your control. Physical AI covers robots, IoT devices (internet-connected gadgets such as sensors and cameras) and on-device agents, and simulation in a tool like Isaac Sim, NVIDIA’s robot simulator, is allowed.

The Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon is large: Devpost showed more than 24,000 registered participants on 17 October 2026. Judges come from NVIDIA, Nebius and Tavily, a company that offers a web search API built for AI agents, and Tavily’s API is the focus of a separate $3,000 bonus award. Devpost tags the event Beginner Friendly, and an official update says you do not have to be a developer to win, because AI coding tools let non-developers build working projects. Nebius and Tavily also co-hosted 20 in-person Builders & Brews meetups between 9 September and 13 October 2026, and all of them are now over.

Key dates and deadlines in UTC and your local time

The Official Rules for the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon state every time in US Pacific Time. Pacific Time is PDT (UTC-7) until 1 November 2026 and PST (UTC-8) after that, so the submission deadline falls in PDT while the judging dates fall in PST. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the world reference time that every time zone is measured from, which makes it the easiest way to compare one moment across countries.

The table gives each date as the rules or official updates state it, then in UTC and in your local time, which the page works out from your device’s time zone. The submission, judging and winners conversions match the official Devpost schedule, and the Will It Ship time is the one the official update gives.

The deadline that matters is Friday 30 October 2026 at 10:00 am PDT, which is 17:00 UTC. That is Friday morning or early afternoon across the Americas, Friday late afternoon or evening in Europe and Africa, and the early hours of Saturday 31 October in East Asia and Australia, so check your own time in the table rather than assuming a midnight cutoff. You cannot change a submission once the deadline passes. We suggest you aim to submit at least a full day early, so a slow video upload or a broken link does not cost you the entry.

The judging window matters as much as the deadline. Judges review entries from Tuesday 1 December to Tuesday 15 December 2026, and your demo or test build must stay free and open to them until judging ends at 12:00 pm PST on 15 December, which is 20:00 UTC. In much of Asia and Australia that moment falls early on Wednesday 16 December. Winners are expected on or around Monday 11 January 2027 at 12:00 pm Pacific Time, which is 20:00 UTC.

The optional Will It Ship session on Tuesday 20 October 2026 at 9:00 am PDT, which is 16:00 UTC, is a live session with the judges; the official update also lists it as 12:00 pm ET and 5:00 pm BST. If you are reading this after 20 October, the session has already taken place. You do not need a project to attend, but you do need to register through the link in the official Will It Ship update. If you want your own project reviewed, opt in when you register; you can withdraw any time before 20 October.

Prizes

The Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon cash pool is $50,000: $36,000 for the three overall places, $3,000 for the Best Use of Tavily award, $10,000 spread across 20 City Winner Awards and $1,000 spread across 10 Most Valuable Feedback awards. On top of the cash, each of the four track winners gets an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano, a compact NVIDIA developer kit for running AI on a device, and each feedback winner gets an NVIDIA swag pack.

The official pages give no dollar value for the Jetson kits or the swag packs. The Devpost sidebar says $50,000 in cash and the overview says $50,000+ in prizes. Every cash amount is in US dollars (USD), and because winners pay any wire and currency exchange fees, the amount that reaches a bank account outside the US may be lower than the headline figure, before any tax.

Prize stacking is limited. A single project can win one Overall Award, or one Track Award plus one Bonus Award. So a Personal AI track winner could also take the Tavily award or a feedback award, but the Grand Prize winner cannot add a bonus prize on top.

The City Winner Awards are closed to anyone who did not attend a Builders & Brews event in person. The Official Rules limit them to entrants who attended one of the 20 Builders & Brews city events, and the FAQ confirms that in-person attendance is required. The Resources page says you do not need to attend, which contradicts the Official Rules, and the rules state that they prevail over other hackathon materials. The last event was in Los Angeles on Tuesday 13 October, so plan around the overall, track, Tavily and feedback prizes.

The Most Valuable Feedback awards are worth aiming for, because every entry must include feedback anyway. Ten entries win $100 plus an NVIDIA swag pack, judged on how complete, viable and impactful the feedback is.

Who can enter, and from which countries

The Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon is open to three kinds of entrant: individuals who have reached the age of majority where they live at the time of entry, teams made up of such individuals, and organisations such as companies, nonprofits, LLCs and partnerships that exist at the time of entry. Students and working professionals compete on the same terms, because the rules do not split them into categories. Devpost summarises it as open to all countries and territories, excluding standard exceptions.

The exceptions are places where US or local law prohibits taking part or receiving a prize. The rules name Brazil, Quebec, Russia, Crimea, Cuba, Iran and North Korea, plus any other country comprehensively sanctioned by OFAC, the US Treasury office that runs economic sanctions. The rules present that list as examples rather than a complete list, and the Official Rules prevail over the FAQ if the two ever differ.

Several groups cannot enter: the organisations that design, run or promote the hackathon, including Nebius and Devpost; their employees, representatives and agents, plus their immediate family and household members; anyone else involved in running the hackathon, plus their immediate family and household members; any judge; any company or individual that employs a judge; and the parents, subsidiaries and affiliates of all of these. Judges come from NVIDIA, Nebius and Tavily. The rules do not explicitly say whether individual NVIDIA or Tavily employees may enter, but the Sponsor can exclude any entry that creates a real or apparent conflict of interest, so ask Devpost at support@devpost.com before you build if this applies to you. Projects built with funding, contract work or a commercial license from Nebius or Devpost are also excluded.

Teams and solo entries

You can enter alone, as a team or as an organisation, and the official FAQ says there is no maximum team size. One person can join several teams or organisations and also enter on their own. Every team member must meet the eligibility rules, so check that nobody on your team lives in an excluded country or works for an excluded company.

Each team or organisation appoints one eligible Representative, the person who enters the submission on the team’s behalf. Prize money for a team is paid to the Representative, who decides how to split it among members, so our suggestion is to agree the split in writing before you submit.

You may submit more than one project, but each one must be unique and substantially different from your others. If you need teammates, the Nebius Discord and the Participants tab on the Devpost page are the official places to look.

How to enter Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon, step by step

These steps follow the official Devpost overview, Official Rules and Resources page in order. We suggest doing steps 1 to 3 on your first day, because billing setup can block you, and you want to find out early.

If you are short on time, the smallest valid entry is a simple working app that calls a Nemotron model through Token Factory, a public repo with an open source license and README, a hosted demo, a public YouTube video under 3 minutes, a written description, your chosen track and honest feedback. Everything beyond that is about scoring well.

What you must submit

The Official Rules spell out what a complete entry contains. Missing one required item can sink an otherwise strong project, so tick off each line below before you press submit.

Judges are allowed to score an entry on its text description, images and video alone, without opening your demo. Treat the description and video as the core of your entry, not as paperwork to finish at the end.

Official updates add practical advice. Name Token Factory and your NVIDIA model in the description and in the Built With section of the Devpost form, and never commit API keys to your public repo. Use environment variables or a .env file that Git ignores instead.

If your submission grew out of an older project, the written explanation of what changed after 26 August 2026 is required, not optional. Be specific about new features, new models and new Nebius integrations, so judges can see the work done during the Submission Period.

How entries are judged

Judges from NVIDIA, Nebius and Tavily review Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon entries between 1 and 15 December 2026 in two stages. Stage One is a pass/fail check: does the project reasonably fit the theme, and does it reasonably use the required Nebius and NVIDIA tools? A project must be a genuine attempt at its track’s stated goal, not a superficial rebrand of an unrelated idea.

Projects that pass move to Stage Two, where they are scored on four equally weighted criteria, and an official update says each criterion is scored 1 to 5. If two projects tie, the one with the higher Technological Implementation score wins, then the next criterion in order decides, and so on; if they are still tied, the judges vote.

Tools, APIs and what they cost

The required stack for the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon is short but strict. Your project must make a runtime call to the Nebius Token Factory inference API or be deployed on Nebius AI Cloud compute, and it must use at least one NVIDIA open source model, such as Nemotron, GR00T, Cosmos or Sonic; the FAQ also names others such as Alpamayo as allowed in the Physical AI track. Calling the same NVIDIA model through Hugging Face, OpenRouter or any other provider does not count, and the official FAQ says there is no approved workaround. Only the model call has to be on Nebius, so your front end and unrelated back end can be hosted anywhere.

Token Factory is a paid service. The Token Factory billing docs say billing setup is mandatory and needs a bank card, and new users get a $1 trial credit valid for 30 days. The hackathon adds $25 of Token Factory credits through the official form with code NEBIUS-DEVPOST-GLOBAL26, and the free Nebius Builders Program adds another $25. Both are Token Factory credits only, there is no separately published AI Cloud credit grant, and no official page states when the promo credits expire. To see whether local tax is added to your bill where you live, check Nebius’s tax documentation. Watch your usage, because the demo has to keep working until judging ends.

Everything else is optional. Tavily is only needed if you want the Best Use of Tavily award; an official update gives the promo code BBDEVPOST, and Tavily’s free plan includes 1,000 API credits a month with no card. The Best Apps and Agents track encourages, but does not require, Nebius Serverless Endpoints and Jobs. The Personal AI track suggests NVIDIA NemoClaw, OpenShell, Hermes Agent and Nebius Serverless. The Physical AI track does not require hardware, because simulation in Isaac Sim is allowed.

Rules that trip people up

A strong project can still be cut for breaking a simple rule. These are the rules most worth rereading before you submit to the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon.

Ownership, prize payment and tax

You keep ownership of your Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon project. The Official Rules say every submission remains the intellectual property of the individuals or organisations that developed it. By entering, you give the Sponsor a non-exclusive license to use the entry for judging, and the Sponsor and Devpost may promote your submission and use contributors’ names, likeness, voice and image in promotional material during the hackathon and for three years after it. Your entry must be your original work, solely owned by you, and must not infringe anyone’s rights. Outside technical help and open source components are allowed, as long as the result is your own work and you follow each component’s license. Because your repo must be public with an open source license, other people can reuse your code on that license’s terms, so choose the license deliberately.

Prizes go to the individual entrant, to the Representative for a team, or to the organisation. Cash is mailed to the winner’s address or sent electronically to a bank account, but only after Devpost or the Sponsor receives the winner affidavit, a sworn statement confirming you are eligible, and the other Required Forms. Those forms are due within 10 business days after they are sent, and wrong or missing information can delay the prize, disqualify the entrant or forfeit the prize. Prizes are delivered within 60 days of the completed forms being received, nobody is a winner until their identity, qualifications and role are verified, prizes cannot be transferred, and the Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

Winners pay any fees for receiving the prize, including wire and currency exchange fees, and are responsible for reporting and paying their own taxes. US residents may need to file Form W-9, and residents of other countries may need Form W-8BEN, a US tax form that confirms you are not a US person. Winners must also follow their own country’s foreign exchange and banking rules, and the Sponsor, Devpost or the prize provider may withhold part of a prize to comply with tax law. If you win, check with a tax adviser before you file anything.

Project ideas that fit the brief

These Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon ideas are our own suggestions, not official examples. Each one fits a track, meets the Nebius and NVIDIA requirement, and goes past the basics, which an official update says judges want to see: for example, an agent that plans, writes, tests and iterates on a real repo, or an assistant that remembers context across sessions and takes real actions.

Use made-up sample data in every demo. Judges need to see the flow working, not your real bank statements or customer records.

Tips to give your entry the best chance

• Set up Nebius Token Factory billing on day one and make a single test call to an NVIDIA Nemotron model before you design anything else. If billing fails for your country, you want to know before you have spent a week building.
• Claim both $25 credit offers, keep an eye on usage, and leave enough credit to keep your demo running until judging ends at 12:00 pm PST on Tuesday 15 December, which is 20:00 UTC.
• Name Token Factory and your NVIDIA model in the description, in the Built With section and out loud in the video. An official update recommends this, and Stage One checks that you really used the required tools.
• Treat the video as a pitch, as an official update suggests: the problem, the solution working, who it is for, and how it uses Nebius and NVIDIA. Our suggestion is to aim for about 2 minutes 30 seconds, so you finish safely under the 3 minute limit.
• Push your track past the basics, which an official update says judges want. In our view, a coding agent that also runs tests and fixes its own mistakes shows far more than one that only writes code, and a Personal AI assistant should clearly remember context from one session to the next.
• Write feedback a product team could act on: what worked, what broke, what was confusing in the docs, and what you would change. It is required anyway, and ten entries win $100 each for the most valuable feedback.
• Design for the Design criterion from the start. Judges score a complete, coherent product experience, so give one simple flow real polish instead of stacking half-finished features.
• Submit a full day early, then open every link in a private browser window: demo, repo, license, README and video. Entries cannot be changed after 10:00 am PDT, which is 17:00 UTC, on Friday 30 October 2026.

Please note: we update this page from time to time, but hackathon dates, prizes and rules can change quickly, and there can be a gap between a change and our update. Check the official rules before you enter or submit. This guide helps you plan; it is not legal or tax advice, and ReconScribe is not responsible for decisions made on it.

Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon frequently asked questions

What is the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon?

It is an online Devpost hackathon sponsored by Nebius and co-branded with NVIDIA, with $50,000 in cash prizes. You build a working AI app, agent or Physical AI project that runs on Nebius Token Factory or Nebius AI Cloud and uses at least one NVIDIA open source model, such as Nemotron.

What is the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon deadline?

Submissions close on Friday 30 October 2026 at 10:00 am Pacific Time, which is PDT (UTC-7) on that date and 17:00 UTC. In East Asia and Australia that is already the early hours of Saturday 31 October, so check your local time. You cannot edit an entry after the deadline.

Which countries can enter the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon?

Individuals who have reached the age of majority where they live, teams of such individuals and organisations can enter from all countries and territories except where US or local law prohibits taking part or receiving a prize. The Official Rules name Brazil, Quebec, Russia, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and any other country comprehensively sanctioned by OFAC. Check early that Nebius Token Factory billing accepts your card and country, because the FAQ says some countries are missing from the billing list.

Is the Nebius NVIDIA hackathon free to enter?

Joining on Devpost is free. Token Factory, which you need for the model calls, is a paid service that requires billing setup with a bank card. Two official offers give $25 of Token Factory credits each, and new users also get a $1 trial credit valid for 30 days.

Can I use Nemotron through Hugging Face or OpenRouter?

No. The official FAQ says calling NVIDIA models through other providers does not satisfy the platform requirement, and there is no approved workaround. The model call must go through Nebius Token Factory or run on Nebius AI Cloud, while the rest of your app can be hosted anywhere.

How much prize money does the Nebius NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon offer?

There is $50,000 in cash: $20,000 for the Grand Prize, $10,000 for second, $6,000 for third, $3,000 for Best Use of Tavily, 20 City Winner Awards of $500 and 10 feedback awards of $100. Each of the four track winners also gets an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano, with no dollar value stated.

Do I need to attend a Builders & Brews event?

Not to enter. Attendance only mattered for the $500 City Winner Awards, which the Official Rules and FAQ limit to people who attended in person. All 20 events ended by 13 October 2026, so new entrants cannot qualify for that award, but every other prize is still open.

How long can the demo video be?

Keep it under 3 minutes. The rules say less than three minutes, and judges are not required to watch beyond that. Upload it to YouTube as a public video, and for the Physical AI track include at least one minute of hardware operating or key modules in action.

Can I submit a project I started before the hackathon?

Yes, if you significantly updated it after the Submission Period opened on 26 August 2026. You must also include a written explanation of what you changed during the Submission Period.

Do I need a real robot for the Physical AI track?

No. The FAQ says simulation such as Isaac Sim is allowed and there is no required hardware list. Your video must still show at least one minute of the key application modules in action, and NVIDIA models such as GR00T, Cosmos, Sonic and Alpamayo are allowed.

How big can my team be?

There is no maximum team size, according to the official FAQ. One person can join several teams and also enter alone. Each team appoints a Representative who submits the entry and receives any prize money for the team.

When are winners announced and how are prizes paid?

Winners are expected on or around Monday 11 January 2027 at 12:00 pm Pacific Time, which is 20:00 UTC. Winners must return an affidavit and tax forms within 10 business days after the forms are sent to them, and prizes are delivered within 60 days of the forms being received. Non-US winners may need Form W-8BEN, so check with a tax adviser about tax in your country.

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Sources

• Official Devpost overview page
• Official Rules
• Official schedule (dates page)
• Official FAQ page
• Official Resources page (credits and city events)
• Official update: Here's how judging works
• Official update: How to build a winning project
• Official update: Will It Ship session with the judges
• Official update: Build session recording and resources
• Nebius Token Factory billing documentation
• Nebius tax documentation
• Nebius Builders Program