HACKATHON_README.md

Build Small Hackathon — Complete Reference

Source: https://huggingface.co/spaces/build-small-hackathon/README/blob/main/README.md
Organization: https://huggingface.co/build-small-hackathon
Discord: https://discord.gg/YHECTft87Z

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📅 Timeline

Phase	Date	Status
Registration	May 7 – June 3, 2026	✅ Closed
Hack Window	June 5 – June 15, 2026	🟢 LIVE NOW
Mid-window AMA	TBD	Upcoming
Submissions Close	June 15, 2026	Deadline
Winners Announced	TBD	After judging

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🎯 Two Tracks — Pick One

🏡 Track 1: Backyard AI

Solve a real problem for someone you actually know.

• Pick a person: neighbor, parent, small-business owner
• Build something that makes their day measurably better

Judged on:

• ✦ Problem is specific and real
• ✦ The person actually used it
• ✦ Honest fit between problem and small-model constraint
• ✦ Polish of the Gradio app

🍄 Track 2: An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood

Build something delightful that wouldn't exist without AI.

• A toy, tiny game, strange interactive story, art experiment
• The AI should be doing the fun thing — not just helping you build it
• Strange is good. Joyful is the bar.

Judged on:

• ✦ Genuinely delightful (would you show a friend?)
• ✦ AI is load-bearing for the experience
• ✦ Originality of concept
• ✦ Polish of the Gradio app

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📏 Three Hard Constraints

#	Rule	Details
1	Small Models Only	Total parameters ≤ 32 billion. Must fit on a laptop.
2	Built on Gradio	Your app must be a Gradio app, hosted as a Hugging Face Space.
3	Show, Don't Tell	Short demo video + social media post required for submission.

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🏅 Bonus Quests (Merit Badges) — Extra Points

Badge	Name	Requirement
🔌	Off the Grid	No cloud APIs. Entirely local-first.
🎯	Well-Tuned	Uses a fine-tuned model you've published on Hugging Face.
🎨	Off-Brand	Custom frontend pushing past default Gradio look (use gr.Server).
🦙	Llama Champion	Model runs through llama.cpp runtime.
📡	Sharing is Caring	Shared agent trace on the Hub for everyone to learn from.
📓	Field Notes	Wrote a blog post/report about what you built and learned.

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💰 Prize Pool: $48,000+ Cash & Physical Prizes

Main Track Awards — $18,000

Track	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Backyard AI	$4,000	$2,500	$1,500	$1,000
Thousand Token Wood	$4,000	$2,500	$1,500	$1,000

Community Choice — $2,000

• One winner, voted by the community

Sponsor Awards

Sponsor	Prize
OpenBMB	$10,000 total — 3 prizes per track (1st: $2,500, 2nd: $1,500, 3rd: $1,000)
OpenAI	$10,000 total — 1st: $5,000, 2nd: $3,000, 3rd: $2,000
NVIDIA	2× RTX 5080 GPUs for standout Nemotron builds
Modal	$20,000 credits — 1st: $10k, 2nd: $7k, 3rd: $3k
Cohere	$5,000 cash to prize pool
JetBrains	$5,000 cash to prize pool
Black Forest Labs	$3,000 cash to prize pool

Special Awards — $8,000

Award	Prize
Bonus Quest Champion	$2,000 — Most merit badges on a single submission
Off-Brand Award	$1,500 — Best custom UI past default Gradio
Tiny Titan	$1,000 — Best app on ≤4B parameter model
Best Demo	$1,500 — Full package: great video + social post
Community Favorite	$2,000 — Voted by participants

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🛠 Tools & Resources for the Trail

Resource	Link
ML Intern (starter kit)	https://github.com/huggingface/ml-intern
Gradio Guides	https://www.gradio.app/guides/quickstart
Gradio gr.Server (custom UI)	https://huggingface.co/blog/introducing-gradio-server
Llama.cpp Getting Started	https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp
Hackathon Org (submit Spaces here)	https://huggingface.co/build-small-hackathon

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📋 Submission Checklist (Due June 15)

• Gradio app hosted as a Hugging Face Space under the build-small-hackathon org
• Model ≤ 32B parameters (verify in Space config)
• Demo video (short, shows the app working)
• Social media post (tweet, LinkedIn, etc. — link in submission)
• Space link submitted via the org

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🔑 Per-Participant Credits (Just for Registering)

Provider	Credit
OpenAI Codex	$100 (first 1,000 participants)
Modal	$250
Hugging Face	$20

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💡 Project Ideas Brainstorming

Backyard AI Track Ideas

• Local recipe organizer for a parent who prints recipes from websites
• Inventory tracker for a neighbor's small craft business
• Medication reminder with voice for an elderly relative
• Garden planting calendar customized to local climate zone
• Homework helper for a specific subject a kid struggles with
• Accessibility tool for someone with specific needs (voice-to-text, high contrast, etc.)

Thousand Token Wood Track Ideas

• Interactive micro-fiction where the model co-writes a strange story
• Tiny text adventure with AI-generated rooms/NPCs
• AI art collaborator — you draw a blob, it completes it into something weird
• Dream interpreter that generates surreal illustrations
• Procedural poem generator with strange constraints
• AI dungeon master for a 5-minute solo RPG session
• Glitch poetry — model corrupts/transforms text in artistic ways

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⚡ Quick Start Commands

# Clone the hackathon org (for reference)
git clone https://huggingface.co/build-small-hackathon

# Create a new Gradio Space locally
# Then push to: https://huggingface.co/build-small-hackathon/your-space-name

# Test model size (example)
python -c "
from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM
model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained('model-name')
print(f'Parameters: {sum(p.numel() for p in model.parameters()) / 1e9:.2f}B')
"

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📝 Notes for Our Team

• We're in the hack window (June 5-15) — build time is NOW
• Two weekends to build, ship, and demo
• Gradio Space must be under the org — not personal account
• Model size is HARD constraint — verify before submitting
• Bonus quests stack — aim for multiple badges for extra points
• Demo video + social post are mandatory — don't leave for last minute

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Last updated: 2026-06-07 | Source: Hugging Face Spaces README