Hackathon prizes

Michele Erba

Hackathon Expert

What are good hackathon prizes?

The most common prize of hackathons is money. Hackathons’ prize pools range from €5K to €100K and more, usually divided as follows:

• First prize: 45%
• Second prize: 35%
• Third prize: 20%

However, the best hackathon prize pool for your hackathon is not necessarily always monetary.

In this article, we provide you with the best hackathon prizes for diverse hackathon goals, marking the difference between external and internal hackathon prizes.

Table of contents

1. External hackathon prizes
   1. Money
   2. Bitcoins
   3. Get hired by hackathon stakeholders
   4. Incubation and mentoring of the winning ideas
   5. Lifetime tools access and licenses
   6. Contribute to a cause
2. Internal hackathon prizes
3. Expert tips ✦

Let’s begin with the suitable prizes for external hackathons:

1. External hackathon prizes

These prizes must be provided to participants who are external to the company organising the hackathon.

Make sure to read the expert tips in the last section for further details on how to define them for your hackathon.

1.1. Money

Yes, here we are: money.

This is the most common prize pool in hackathons and the one that could be seen as the most attractive for hackathon candidates and teams.

It comes with some catches, though.

If you decide to provide a cash prize pool, you want to make sure to check local laws and regulations for each one of the countries of the participants you’re transferring cash to.

Hiring legal experts or established hackathon providers for this task is highly recommended. Better to be safe than sorry.

Even if you do so, some countries do not allow monetary prizes for such events.

Once again, experts can provide you with valid alternatives that are complementary to cash and, at the same time, fully compliant with local rules.

Here are some real case examples of events with a monetary prize pool:

1.2. Bitcoins

If you’re planning to have cryptocurrencies as a prize for your hackathon, you’re probably aware that, although Bitcoin’s volatility has been more stable than gold in recent times, it is still prone to volatile price fluctuations.

While this potential for high returns can be exciting for some, it also carries the risk of significant losses.

This risk might deter some participants, especially those unfamiliar with cryptocurrency.

Also, legal and matters experts must be involved to make sure you’re fully compliant when transferring Bitcoins to winners.

This prize is particularly appealing to a techy audience. We’re talking about:

• Bitcoin & lightning developers
• Subject matter experts
• Generic application developers
• UI/UX designers
• Bitcoin educators
• Data scientists
• Investors
• Traders

1.3. Get hired by hackathon stakeholders

Hackathons can be leveraged as talent spotlights.

Participants, especially students and PhDs, get a unique chance to showcase their skills by tackling real-world challenges in front of an ideal audience: the very companies, institutions, startups, partners, sponsors, and entities behind the hackathon organisation, seeking to hire talent.

We wrote an in-depth article about this that you can read here.

At last, this prize is the most appealing to new graduates and students.

1.4. Incubation and mentoring of the winning ideas

The winning teams can get their idea incubated easily and quickly. This kind of support can be provided by the entity organising the hackathon directly or by the sponsors and/or the hackathon partners.

The teams can also receive several months of mentoring from high-level industry experts, who would be very difficult to get on board otherwise.

This type of prize is particularly appealing to startups and newborn companies and can be even more appealing than money since the participants are more interested in a long-term strategy: a bird in the hand is not always worth two in the bush.

1.5. Lifetime tools access and licenses

Hackathon prizes can be provided in the form of lifetime licenses for tools, software, or platforms. For example, in a ChatGPT hackathon, the prize can be a ChatGPT lifetime access for all the team members.

Or for a datathon where the organiser is the entity providing the datasets to be used, the prize could be lifetime access to their data environment.

Other examples could be online courses, unlimited access to e-books, or other downloadable resources.

This prize can be particularly appealing for scientists and researchers.

1.6. Contribute to a cause

When hackathons embrace social impact, sustainability, or a non-profit mission, the ultimate prize transcends material rewards.

It lies in the profound satisfaction of contributing to a greater good.

This intrinsic prize is greater than individualistic driving factors, be it for personal benefit or corporate gain.

Instead, it generates a collaborative spirit, where participants unite under a shared purpose, driven by the potential to create meaningful change.

We cannot provide a specific audience for this type of prize, but we can tell you that it’s our favorite one!

2. Internal hackathon prizes

Some limitations could apply when defining the prizes for an internal hackathon, depending on the corporate guidelines.

Make sure to check them with your legal department before doing anything.

Here are some real case examples of internal hackathon prizes:

• Corporate benefits, such as product discounts on marketing affiliate platforms
• Shopping vouchers
• Paid travel to foreign company branches
• Visits to external innovation or tech hubs
• Training and specialisation courses
• Extended annual leave
• Tickets to sports events, concerts, fairs, or festivals
• Coffee with the CEO
• Pitching the idea in large HQ internal conferences
• Free health checkups or treatments
• Company shares and stocks
• Personal or family insurances

3. Expert tips ✦

The definition of the prizes for your hackathon has an impact on multiple success factors for it.

Above all, the prize's attractiveness to your participants’ target audience is key. If the prize is tailored for it, you’re maximising the chances for people to register and engage in your event.

Choosing compelling prizes can also enhance your company’s public perception.

Outsiders will see your company as attractive, solid, and innovative.

Make sure you’re capable of actually delivering the prizes to the winners. If you don’t stick to your word, your reputation might be at stake.

Part of our job is to absorb all of these factors and provide you with the best guidance in defining the prizes for your event.

If you want to learn more about how we can help you organize your hackathon, request a demo with our team today!