About the challenge

VibeHack London 2026 is a 24-hour AI hackathon at UCL, bringing together student builders, founders, developers, designers, product people, and AI users from across London to build real working AI products in one weekend.

This is not a pitch-only or slide-only hackathon. Every team is expected to build and demo something that actually works, even if it is rough, incomplete, or experimental.

Projects should be substantially built during the hackathon. Teams may use open-source libraries, APIs, frameworks, templates, AI tools, and sponsor tools, but should not submit a pre-existing project as if it was built during VibeHack.

Teams will compete across two main tracks and may also apply for sponsor-backed special awards.

Main Tracks

Health Impact

Build AI products that address real problems in health, wellbeing, public health, healthcare operations, student wellbeing, mental health, or health-related everyday life.

Build with Zymix

Build AI-native product ideas, features, or prototypes around Gen Z social, community, entertainment, consumer apps, or new forms of digital interaction.

Sponsor Special Awards

Z.ai × Orbit Builder Workflow Awards

For teams that use Orbie to capture how they built: decisions, prompts, trade-offs, tool choices, AI usage, and team workflow.

Teams applying for this award should follow the Orbit instructions at orbit24.uk/vibehack and upload one team ZIP to Orbit.

The four Z.ai × Orbit award lenses are:

• Best Product Integration with Z.ai
• Best Workflow Use of Z.ai
• Best Real-World Potential with Z.ai
• Best Build-in-Public Story with Z.ai

Fotor Vibe Marketing Award

Awarded to teams that use Fotor AI to turn their hackathon project into a clear, memorable, and market-ready visual story.

Teams applying for this award should submit their published Fotor post link(s) on Devpost.

Manus Real-World Use Case Award

Awarded to teams that demonstrate a strong real-world Manus use case.

Teams applying for this award should submit their published Manus link on Devpost.

Get started

1. Form a team of 1–4 people.
2. Choose one main track.
3. Build a working AI product or prototype within 24 hours.
4. Submit your main project on Devpost before the deadline.
5. If applying for the Fotor Vibe Marketing Award, include your published Fotor post link(s) in your Devpost submission.
6. If applying for the Manus Real-World Use Case Award, include your published Manus link in your Devpost submission.
7. If applying for the Z.ai × Orbit Builder Workflow Awards, start Orbie from orbit24.uk/vibehack during the hackathon, ask Orbie to capture each builder’s persona at the end, and have the team leader upload one team ZIP to Orbit.

Teams retain ownership of their own ideas, code, designs, demos, and submitted materials. VibeHack and sponsors do not automatically take ownership of team projects. However, this is a public hackathon submission process, so teams should not submit confidential materials that they are not comfortable sharing.

Solo builders are welcome and will be treated as a team of one.

• Health Impact Criteria
  Health Impact teams will be judged on health problem relevance, user understanding and equity, practical real-world value, appropriate and safe use of AI, and clarity and quality of demo.
• Build with Zymix Criteria
  Build with Zymix teams will be judged on relevance to Zymix users, originality of concept, quality of user experience, clarity and polish of demo, and effective use of AI.
• Working Demo
  Teams are expected to show a working prototype, live demo, deployed product, or credible demo flow. Rough or experimental demos are acceptable, but purely conceptual submissions are discouraged.
• Effective Use of AI
  Judges will consider whether AI is meaningfully used as part of the product, workflow, or experience, rather than added only as a decorative feature.
• Fotor Vibe Marketing Award
  Fotor applicants will be considered based on storytelling, feature completion, and business awareness. Teams should submit published Fotor post link(s) and be ready to show or explain their Fotor output during table-side judging.
• Manus Real-World Use Case Award
  Manus applicants will be considered based on use case clarity, practical workflow value, and published evidence quality. Teams should submit a published Manus link and be ready to explain how Manus supported their workflow or project.
• Z.ai × Orbit Builder Workflow Awards
  Z.ai × Orbit applicants should use Orbie during the hackathon and upload one team ZIP to Orbit. Z.ai × Orbit awards are reviewed through Orbit submissions, with onsite judge notes used as supporting evidence.