Backed by the best in AI.
The folks making this adventure possible โ the full roster, locked in.
$10,000 in cash prizes, plus $100 in Codex credits for the first 1,000 participants.
Two RTX 5080 GPUs๐ฅ as physical prizes.
$250 in Modal credits for every participant, plus $20,000 in credits for the winners.
$10,000 in special category prizes โ split across both tracks for the standout OpenBMB picks.
The pace of AI over the last year has been anxiety-inducing. Labs release larger and larger models that do more of the things that make us feel human โ writing, drawing, speaking, coding. No wonder more than half of us think the risks of AI outweigh the benefits.
This hackathon is different. Rather than using a giant LLM to ship yet another B2B SaaS, we wanted you to think small. Armed with only 32 billion parameters, solve a problem someone you know is facing โ or build something whimsical.
Choose your own adventure.
Backyard AI
Solve a real problem for someone you actually know. Pick a person โ a neighbor, a parent, a small-business owner on your street โ and build something that makes their day measurably better.
- Problem is specific and real
- The person actually used it
- Honest fit between problem and the small-model constraint
- Polish of the Gradio app
An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood
Build something delightful that wouldn't exist without AI. Wander somewhere weirder. A toy, a tiny game, a strange interactive story, an art experiment that surprises you. The AI should be doing the fun thing โ not just helping you build it. Strange is good. Joyful is the bar.
- Genuinely delightful (would you show a friend?)
- AI is load-bearing for the experience
- Originality of concept
- Polish of the Gradio app
Pack light.
Small Models Only
Total parameters must be โค 32 billion. The model fits on a laptop. So should your ambition.
Built on Gradio
Your app must be a Gradio app, hosted as a Hugging Face Space. That's the canvas.
Show, Don't Tell
A short demo video and a social-media post are part of the submission. Make it sing.
Stack 'em on your sash.
None required. Each one grants extra points for your submission. Hover a patch to see it lift.
The trophy cabinet.
Every submission to a main track competes for that track's podium. Sponsor and special awards are separate categories on top โ one great app can take home more than one.
Backyard AI
Thousand Token Wood
OpenBMB Awards
OpenAI Track
NVIDIA Nemotron Quest
Modal Awards
gr.Server is your friend.The trail, start to finish.
Registration and submissions are closed โ here's the route every builder followed, kept for the record.
Review the four steps builders took
The winners are in.
Judging's wrapped and the results are live. Here's what's decided โ and the last few prizes still to come.
Judged
Gradio, Hugging Face, and our sponsor teams reviewed every eligible submission against each track and prize rubric โ verifying parameter caps and entry criteria along the way.
Winners announced
23 winning projects โ both track podiums, the OpenBMB and community picks, six special awards, and the NVIDIA Nemotron GPU (Figment) โ are up now in the Prize Ledger.
Still being decided
Six more prizes โ the Modal and OpenAI podiums โ are still in judging. We'll announce those next week.
Useful trailheads.
Two weekends in the woods.
You built something small.
Two weekends. Two tracks. Hundreds of Spaces shipped on models that fit on a laptop โ and 23 of them just took home the win. Thanks for hitting the trail.
โ See the Prize Ledger โ23 winners announced ยท 6 sponsor prizes still to come next week.