Prize Terms

• ▸One winner per track.
• ▸One overall winner, chosen from the track winners.
• ▸People's Choice, decided by VC for a Day — every attendee backs the projects they would invest in with virtual capital during the demo fair. This is separate from the judges' scores.
• ▸Partner prizes — for example best use of a partner's tool or best responsible-AI practice — open to any team in any track that opts in at submission.
• ▸Non-cash prizes may include follow-on support and conversations with partners about internships.

• ▸Teams of two to five current university students, each 18 or over on 16 October 2026, registered and present at the event.
• ▸Organisers, volunteers, mentors and judges cannot win.
• ▸The project must be built at the event and submitted on the official submission platform by 12:00 on Sunday. Late submissions can still demo but are not judged.
• ▸Teams must keep to the code of conduct and the fair-play rules. Breaking them means disqualification.

• ▸Every track has five criteria, each scored out of ten. Round one is the demo fair: every submitted team is seen at its table and scores are averaged across the track's judges.
• ▸Round two is the stage pitch for the top two teams per track, scored by the full judging panel on the same criteria. The final score is round one plus round two.
• ▸The overall winner is chosen by the full panel from the track winners on a single question: which project would we most want to see exist in six months.
• ▸Partner prizes are decided by the partner's own judge from the teams that opted in.
• ▸A judge who knows a team member personally does not score that team. Mentors do not judge teams they mentored.
• ▸Ties are broken by the Working demo score, then by the first criterion listed for the track. Disputes go to the head judge, whose decision is final.

• ▸Prize money is paid by bank transfer to one nominated team member within 30 days of the event. The team decides how to split it.
• ▸The nominated person completes a short prize claim form at the awards ceremony with their name, email and team name.
• ▸Winners are paid by the AI Society. You will never be asked to wait for a sponsor.

Every judge leaves a one-line note for every team they score. These are typed up and emailed to teams within a week of the event.