Remote Hackathon List - May 2026
Most engineers don't know this, but there's over $500,000 up for grabs this month in online, fully remote hackathons. Here's the list ⬇️
1. Solana Frontier Hackathon (Colosseum): $250k+ in pre-seed funding
April 6 – May 11, 2026 · Fully online
Crypto's largest online startup competition. Winners get $250K pre-seed checks into Colosseum's accelerator.
2. Gemma 4 Good Hackathon (Kaggle × Google DeepMind): $200,000 prize pool
Final submission: May 18, 2026 · Virtual on Kaggle
Build with Gemma 4 multimodal AI for health, education, or climate impact.
3. Mantle Turing Test Hackathon: $100,000 prize pool
May 1 – June 15, 2026 · Virtual
AI × Web3 hackathon backed by Tencent Cloud, Bybit, Z.AI, Nansen. Tracks for AI trading, agentic wallets, AI x RWA.
🔗 dorahacks.io/hackathon/mantleturingtesthackathon2026
4. DeveloperWeek AI/ML 2026 Hackathon: Multiple sponsor prizes
Final submissions: May 28, 2026 · Online (Devpost)
Big sponsor cash prizes per track. Lower competition than crypto-native ones if you're more AI/ML focused.
5. DeveloperWeek New York 2026 Hackathon: Multiple sponsor cash + product prizes
Kicks off May 25, 2026 · In-person + online via Devpost
Tons of small-to-mid size sponsor tracks ($500–$10K+). Easier wins if you ship fast.
🔗 dwny-2026-hackathon.devpost.com
6. Hack-Nation Global AI Hackathon (MIT-affiliated): $30K+ cash + $150K OpenAI credits
24-hour virtual sprint · Online · 60+ countries
Great one for first-timers — startup pressure simulation with real prizes.
A few unsolicited tips since you actually asked:
- Pick ONE track and go deep. Don't try to win 4.
- Submit early. Async judging starts before deadline.
- Record a clean 2-min demo video - most teams lose here.
- Use AI to build, not to replace your work. Most hackathons disqualify pure-AI submissions.
Good luck!
Kristina
