PiHacks 2026 is an online hackathon exclusively for Pioneer High School students, running from April 1 to May 1, 2026 (tentatively, schedule is likely to change).

You are expected to have read the competition guide, found at PiHacks.org (.docx download). You must have registered prior to starting.

Whether you're a seasoned coder or just starting out, PiHacks is about building something real, learning along the way, and competing for prizes. This competition emphasizes authentic work, clear progress, and usable projects rather than rushed or AI-generated submissions.

Participants can work solo or in teams of up to four and choose from a variety of tracks including AI/ML, Gaming, Social Good, Developer Tools, and a Mystery Track revealed mid-competition.

What makes PiHacks different:

• Strict emphasis on real development (no AI spam)
• Commit history + GitHub-based judging
• Hardware-friendly with dedicated prize category
• Public voting + judge scoring hybrid system

• Form
  Your project should look relatively well polished and complete with smooth navigation etc.
• Function
  Your project should function as you've described. There should be no issues or problems that take the user away from the program/website. Physical projects should not start "tweaking out" during any interaction.
• Commits
  Low commit counts with extremely high changes will automatically be flagged; make sure to submit more changes over the same period of time so we can see you've put effort into your project.
• Uniqueness
  Your project should fix a problem or create some interesting form of entertainment or way of using a tool. In other words, don't make another Minecraft; be unique!
• AI Junk
  Your project shouldn't look completely AI generated. While AI usage is permitted, we highly recommend to stick with your own brains for the majority of the project. See pihacks.org/terms for more information.