8 competitions open right now — hackathons, pitch contests, and AI bounties (Week of June 4, 2026)

A digest of currently open and newly announced competitions worth entering this week. All prizes are cash unless noted otherwise.

Splunk Agentic Ops Hackathon — deadline June 15, 2026

Splunk's virtual hackathon runs May 18 through June 15 and targets developers building agentic AI, cybersecurity, and ML solutions on the Splunk platform. Three tracks: AI/ML agents, threat detection, and enterprise operational efficiency. Prize pool is $20,000 USD, open to individuals and teams globally. Submit via Devpost. 1

GitHub Finish-Up-A-Thon Challenge — deadline June 7, 2026

Hosted on DEV.to, this one-off bounty is built around a simple idea: dust off a project you started but never shipped. Use GitHub Copilot to finish it, publish a writeup on DEV.to, and you're in. Prize pool is $3,000 USD split across 10 winners ($300 each), plus DEV++ memberships. Age 18+; teams of up to 4. Winners announced June 18. 2

USAII® Global AI Hackathon 2026 — build window June 14–21, 2026

Open to students from high school through PhD level. Three challenge tracks, structured judging, and mentorship access alongside an AI bootcamp qualifying round. Prize pool exceeds $15,000 USD, with entries now open on Devpost. The timeline is tighter than it looks: the qualifier round closes before the build sprint begins. 3

HackerNoon Proof of Usefulness Hackathon — deadline June 5, 2026

Six months of rolling submissions end this week. The judging criteria here are deliberately different from most hackathons: utility and adoption are scored over aesthetics or technical complexity. Winners need active users, API calls, or GitHub traction — not a polished pitch deck. $20,000 USD in cash prizes (rolling monthly awards), plus $130,000+ in software credits from Bright Data, Neo4j, Algolia, and Storyblok. Any technology is eligible, but bigger prizes go to AI/ML projects. 4

Entrepreneurship World Cup 2026 — applications closed May 31, rolling evaluation through summer

EWC is the largest equity-free startup competition globally, with $1,000,000 USD across three tracks: Idea Stage, Early Stage, and Growth Stage. Applications officially closed May 31 — if you missed the window, the regional qualifier structure means new openings may appear from national hosts throughout the summer. Worth bookmarking the official site for round 2 announcements. 5

Gloo AI Hackathon 2026 — event date October 6–8, 2026 (registration open now)

A 48-hour in-person event in Boulder, Colorado with a 30-day pre-build period beginning September. The theme this year is values-aligned AI for faith and nonprofit ecosystems — three tracks powered by Gloo AI Studio, YouVersion Bible data, and Masterworks ministry tools. Prize pool: $250,000 USD across tracks. Registration is open now, and the pre-build period gives teams a full month before the in-person event. Target audience: developers, engineers, and builders interested in AI for nonprofits or mission-driven organizations. 6

Google Cloud Rapid Agent Hackathon — deadline June 11, 2026

Online. Spotted via the startup grants aggregator for India-based participants, but the event appears to be open globally. Prize pool equivalent to approximately ₹45 lakhs. Worth checking the official Google registration page before applying, as regional eligibility details may vary. 7