Dates

Jan 31st - Feb 1st

Eligibility

  • Open to UIUC students (undergraduate + graduate) currently enrolled at the time of the event.

  • You may participate solo or as a team.
  • Each person may only be part of one submission.
  • Organizers, judges, mentors, and sponsor employees may attend and help, but are not eligible to win prizes.

Project and Submission Requirements

What to build

  • Build any AI-powered product that solves a real problem for people or businesses.

  • Examples: AI agents, copilots, workflow automations, customer support tools, research assistants, productivity apps, creative tools, etc.

  • Required: Your project must use Keywords AI as part of the build. Submissions that do not use Keywords AI may be disqualified.

  • You’re encouraged (but not required) to use sponsor tools: Supabase, Lovable, and/or Trae.

How to submit

  • Submit through Devpost by Sunday 10:00 AM CST.

  • Your Devpost submission must include:

    1. Source code uploaded as a .zip file

    2. A demo video (≤ 2 minutes) uploaded to Devpost

    3. A short write-up: problem, solution, and how it works

Social post requirement

  • After submitting on Devpost, one team member must post the demo video on X (Twitter) and include:
    #keywordsai-hackathon-uiuc

  • Please include your Keywords AI Organization ID
  • Please include how you use Lovable or TRAE if you choose Lovable or TRAE track.

General rules

  • Projects should be built during the hackathon window.

  • You may use open-source libraries and public APIs, but must follow their licenses/terms.

  • Do not submit anything that violates others’ IP or is unsafe/illegal. Plagiarism or re-submitting an old project may lead to disqualification.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Projects will be judged on:

  • Impact & usefulness: clear problem, meaningful solution

  • Technical execution: working product, solid implementation

  • Product & UX: usability, clarity, and polish

  • Creativity: novelty or unique approach

  • Demo quality: clear 90-second demo showing value + how it works

  • Sponsor tool usage (bonus): thoughtful use of Keywords AI / Supabase / Lovable / Trae

Winner selection

  • Winners are determined by judges’ scores.

  • In the event of a tie, priority goes to Impact + Technical execution.

  • Organizers may verify eligibility and submission requirements before awarding prizes.