Bay Hacks 2026 — Tampa Bay's Innovation Hackathon
Bay Hacks is a 24-hour collegiate hackathon bringing students from across Florida to the University of South Florida to build, compete for prizes, and pitch to a panel of judges. Form a team, pick a track, and turn an idea into something real in a single weekend.
Bay Hacks is open to currently enrolled undergraduate students. Bring your student ID to check in.
Mentors and technical workshops run throughout the event. Whether you're writing your first line of code or you've shipped before, every skill level is welcome.
Hosted by Tampa Bay Innovation. Free to attend.
Tracks
- Med Tech — medical devices, diagnostics, health data, and accessibility
- Hardware — embedded systems, robotics, IoT, and wearables
- AI — applied AI and machine-learning projects
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UX University Challenge: Silver Spring Community Intelligence — bring scattered public census and community data together into a queryable map. Full brief below. (Sponsored by UX University.)
- Best Use of ElevenLabs — build with ElevenLabs' AI audio & voice APIs. Projects must use ElevenLabs to qualify.
- Best Use of Render — build using Render Workflows. Track winners must use Workflows to qualify.
Sponsored tracks (ElevenLabs, Render, UX University) have their own qualification requirements, judging criteria, and prize terms, listed in each track's description above and in the Prizes section below. Check them before you build.
UX University Challenge: Silver Spring Community Intelligence
Public data about a community exists, but it's scattered across census records, county datasets, GIS layers, planning documents, and surveys, and it's hard to actually use. Your challenge: bring that fragmented public data together and make it understandable and queryable.
Map Silver Spring, Maryland, and let a user explore who lives in and around the community, then use Fenton Village (a diverse district of 240+ local businesses) as your first real-world application. Teams are free to pull from Census/ACS, Montgomery County and Montgomery Planning data, GIS, surveys, mobility and business data, and any other public sources.
You won't map all of Silver Spring in 24 hours, but you do need a working MVP by the end, however basic. That's what wins, and the winning team gets to keep building it with UX University. What we're looking for is a strong approach, a sound architecture, and a working proof of concept we could keep building on, one that shows the evidence behind its answers.
The winning team receives $500 and a paid continuation opportunity to keep developing the platform with UX University.
Schedule
Friday, September 18
- 6:00 PM — Check-in & networking
- 6:30 PM — Opening ceremony (dinner served)
- 7:00 PM — Hacking begins + sponsor keynote
- 8:00 PM & 10:00 PM — Technical workshops
- 12:00 AM — Midnight snack
Saturday, September 19
- 8:30 AM — Breakfast
- 10:00 AM — Workshop
- 1:00 PM — Workshop
- 7:00 PM — Hacking ends & submissions close
Sunday, September 20
- 9:00 AM — Breakfast
- 10:00 AM — Closing ceremony & awards
Requirements
Submit the following on Devpost by 7:00 PM ET Saturday, September 19:
- Project name and a short description of what it does
- The track(s) you're entering
- An explanation of how you built it and the technologies used
- A demo video (2–3 minutes) or a link to a live demo
- A link to your project's code repository
All code must be written during the event. Teams of up to 4. You must be present in person for judging to be eligible.
Projects in the Best Use of Render track must use Render Workflows (render.com/workflows) to be eligible for prizes.
Projects in the UX University Challenge must include a working MVP demonstrated live to judges. The track is judged on the 24-hour build.
Prizes
Best Use of Render — 1st Place
$500 in Render credits. Project must be built using Render Workflows to qualify. Credits are valid for 1 year once applied to your account.
Best Use of Render — 2nd Place
$300 in Render credits. Project must be built using Render Workflows to qualify. Credits are valid for 1 year once applied to your account.
Best Use of Render — 3rd Place
$100 in Render credits. Project must be built using Render Workflows to qualify. Credits are valid for 1 year once applied to your account.
Best Use of ElevenLabs
Winning team: 1,100,000 ElevenLabs credits. All participants receive 100,000 credits, active throughout the event. Projects must be built with ElevenLabs to qualify.
UX University Challenge: Silver Spring Community Intelligence
$500 to the winning team, plus a paid 14-day continuation opportunity to keep developing the platform with UX University.
Judged on the 24-hour build. The continuation is a bonus, not a substitute for shipping a working MVP by the end of the event.
IP: applies to the winning team only. UX University owns the winning solution; the team retains full rights to showcase the work in portfolios and public presentations.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Cavendish Mwangi
Operations Lead, UX University
Eden Tadesse
Product Lead, UX University
Judging Criteria
-
Creativity & Originality
Is the project fresh and surprising? We're looking for original ideas and fresh takes, not clones of existing products. -
Technical Complexity
How impressive is what's running under the hood, given the 24-hour build window? We reward real engineering, not just a thin wrapper. -
Impact & Usefulness
Does it solve a real problem for real people? Who benefits, and how much? -
Execution & Polish
Does it actually work in the demo? Is it usable, clear, and well presented? -
UX University Challenge (this track only)
Working MVP: is it functional by the end of the 24 hours, however basic? Architecture: is this worth building on? Evidence: does it show the data behind its answers? Application: is the Fenton Village use case real and demonstrated?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Invite others to compete
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