About the challenge

We're happy to announce HackFax x PatriotHacks 2026 will commence on February 13th-15th!

You might be asking, "HackFax and PatriotHacks, at one event, why?" Well... love does a funny thing to you, especially if you are a cyber fox and a sentient TV guy. Long story short, we fell in love at first sight and became one!

Join us in Fairfax, VA for:

- Free food and swag
- Fun activities
- Engaging and Relevant workshops, lead by professionals
- Networking with top sponsors like EY, Red Bull, AWS, Peraton, Microsoft, and more!
- Love puzzles? Test your skills in our
Capture-the-Flag competition, designed for both newbies and seasoned pros.
- Solve challenges created by other talented GMU students and show off your problem-solving abilities!

Don’t miss out on the energy, creativity, and community of HackFax and PatriotHacks!

Requirements

What to Build

Anything you'd like, as long as it adheres to one of the internal tracks. As a reminder, you must submit to 1 Internal Track, you may submit to up to 2 Sponsor tracks, and you may opt-in to all MLH tracks.

What to Submit

Github Repo, Description of your project and a video Demo of your project

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

20 non-cash prizes
1st Place Overall - Playstation 5s
1 winner

Overall Winner will get a PS5 for each team member.

2nd Place Overall - 65" LG TV
1 winner

2nd Place Overall will get a 65" LG TV for each team member.

3rd Place Overall - Bose QuietComforts
1 winner

3rd Place Overall has each member gets a Bose Quiet Comforts

1st Place Sustainability Track - 165" HZ Curved Monitor
1 winner

HackFax & PatriotHacks are looking for The Best Sustainability Hack.

This includes and is not limited to anything regarding supporting and improving the environment, improving environmental systems, and more. We want to see your creativity!

Each member wins a 165" HZ Curved Monitor

1st Place Health & Healthcare - Garmin Smart Watches
1 winner

HackFax & PatriotHacks are looking for The Best Health & Healthcare Hack.

This includes and is not limited to anything Medical, Medical Systems, Hospitals, and anything else you can think of. We want to see your creativity!

Each member gets a Garmin Smart Watch

1st Place Education Track - LEGO Art Set
1 winner

HackFax & PatriotHacks are looking for The Best Education Hack.

This includes and is not limited to anything regarding supporting and improving Education systems, Literacy, Improving learning, and more. We want to see your creativity!

Each member wins a LEGO Set, specific one can be found on the slideshow.

1st Place Blockchain, Cyber & Security - $100 Amazon Gift Card
1 winner

HackFax & PatriotHacks are looking for The Best Blockchain, Cyber or Security Hack.

This includes and is not limited to anything from Home Security, CyberSecurity, Blockchain and more. We want to see your creativity!

Each member gets a $100 Gift Card

1st Place Cloudforce x Microsoft - Best Use of PatriotAI - Xbox Series X
1 winner

With this track, Microsoft & Cloudforce are looking for students utilizing PatriotAI.

to be eligible, students must use PatriotAI in their hack, follow Cloudforce on LinkedIn, post about their hack and tag @goCloudforce on Linkedin.

2nd Place Cloudforce x Microsoft - Best Use of PatriotAI - Mentorship from a Cloudforce Exec + Swag Bag
1 winner

With this track, Microsoft & Cloudforce are looking for students utilizing PatriotAI.

to be eligible, students must use PatriotAI in their hack, follow Cloudforce on LinkedIn, post about their hack and tag @goCloudforce on Linkedin.

3rd Place Cloudforce x Microsoft - Best Use of PatriotAI - Swagbag from Cloudforce
1 winner

With this track, Microsoft & Cloudforce are looking for students utilizing PatriotAI.

to be eligible, students must use PatriotAI in their hack, follow Cloudforce on LinkedIn, post about their hack and tag @goCloudforce on Linkedin.

Peraton: UI/UX
1 winner

Peraton is looking for projects that create a product people actually want to use, combining clean visuals, intuitive navigation, and thoughtful interactions that make the experience feel smooth, natural, and even a little delightful.

Each member of the team wins Beats Headphones & Peraton Swag + Sony Speaker

Hack4Impact: Book Harvest Track
1 winner

Book Harvest is a nonprofit based in Durham, North Carolina, working to provide access to books for students around the country. they’ve provided more than 3 million books to families, ensuring children grow up with abundant home libraries and a lifelong love of reading.

The Best Hack for Book Harvest track looks for participants to design and create a more seamless, centralized system to streamline book distribution, and reach more families. Your hack will also be used to help BookHarvest in their mission!

More information can be found in the #tracks channel on Discord!

Each member of the team gets a $50 Barnes & Noble Gift Card

Cipher Tech Solutions - Digital Forensics
1 winner

Digital forensics topics include but are not limited to: Data carving\reconstruction\recovery tools, finding specific objects (other than faces) in a large collection of digital images, steganography detection or exploitation, registry or memory artifact analysis, encryption detection, or anything else that could aid investigators who are looking at computers recovered from crime scenes.

Each winner gets a $100 Amazon Gift Card & $125 Swagbag from Cipher Tech (YETI Tumbler and Nike Merch)

Redbull Basement - Most Likely to be a Startup
1 winner

With this track, Redbull is looking for Students who have products that could be startups in the future. You have all the creative Freedom as long as you can pitch it!

You can also use your hackathon idea for Redbull Basement, their Startup incubator!

Each member of a team wins a $200 Redbull Gift Card

[MLH] Best Use of Gemini API
1 winner

Google 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
1 winner

Ledger Nano S Plus
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 some cool prizes for you and each member of your team!

[MLH] Best Use of DigitalOcean
1 winner

Retro Wireless Mouse
DigitalOcean offers a reliable and easy-to-use cloud platform for every stage of your project. Leverage core services like Droplets, Managed Databases, and App Platform to build, deploy, and scale your application effortlessly. Building with AI? DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI enables you to build, train, and deploy machine learning models, including access to GPU infrastructure and serverless inference!

Sign up for DigitalOcean today and get $200 worth of free credits that you can use towards building your next great hack. Build with DigitalOcean's robust cloud infrastructure for a chance to win some great prizes for you and each of your teammates!

[MLH] Best Use of ElevenLabs
1 winner

Wireless Earbuds
Deploy natural, human-sounding audio with ElevenLabs. Create realistic, dynamic, and emotionally expressive voices for any project, from interactive AI companions to narrated stories and voice-enabled apps. ElevenLabs will empower you to build rich, immersive experiences without the need for actors or complex audio production, using simply the power of AI.

Integrate fully autonomous audio experiences into your hack with ElevenLabs and give your project a voice, along with giving your team the chance to win some wireless earbuds!

[MLH] Best Use of Snowflake API
1 winner

M5Stack Tab5
Play with industry-leading LLMs on a single account using the Snowflake APIs. Adding AI capabilities into your application can be as simple as a single CURL command to Snowflake’s REST API.

Build customized applications, RAG powered chat bots, or embed AI-powered features into your app in half the time with half the hassle. Get started for free with a special, student 120-day Snowflake trial and check out this repository for an example of the Snowflake REST API in action.

[MLH] Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
1 winner

M5Stack IoT Kit
MongoDB Atlas takes the leading modern database and makes it accessible in the cloud! Get started with a $50 credit for students or sign up for the Atlas free forever tier (no credit card required). Along with a suite of services and functionalities, you'll have everything you need to manage all of your data, and you can get a headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your team.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Harun Khan

Harun Khan
PatriotHacks Exec

Judging Criteria

  • Execution
    How well implemented was the project?
  • Originality
    How original was the project?
  • Track Impact
    How much of an impact does the project make to the track?
  • Theme (Optional)
    Bonus points for giving your project Valentines day flair

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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