QWER Hacks @ UCLA 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 is one of Major League Hacking's first collegiate LGBTQIA+ hackathons that celebrates the queer community in STEM. We bring together queer individuals and allies through tech talks, technical and community-building workshops, and the development of innovative projects to help underrepresented groups!
Presenting our theme for this year: Traveling through Time ⏱️⏳! This year's theme invites you to explore the continuum of time: preserving the past, nurturing the present, and innovating for the future. Through technology, we can honor stories, strengthen communities, and build toward a more equitable tomorrow. Within this theme, we have three tracks covering this:
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Preserve 🪶📜 – honoring the stories and history of marginalized communities and celebrating cultures to better understand where we are today.
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Nurture 🌱🚿 – nurturing the present and strengthening our communities, protecting our planet, and building a more equitable world.
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Innovate 🤖🚀 – embracing creativity and curiosity to imagine the future of technology to uplift underserved communities.
Here are some track-specific resources you might find useful as you begin your projects!
In addition to the main prize tracks, you can choose to opt into other superlative prize tracks when submitting your project. For the main prize tracks, you will be judged with the criteria below. The superlative prize tracks will be chosen by judges’ votes.
At QWER Hacks, we want to see you thrive, grow, and share joy with tech, and maybe even ✨make something great✨. So this year, we hope you to learn to find real, impactful issues, make things to help your community and spread joy, and find new pals and pride in your identity. Happy hacking!
Requirements
Remember that hackathons are like marathons. Some people go to compete but most people take part to learn new skills and have fun! All submissions must be done by groups of 1 to 4 people. You must have applied and been accepted to participate in QWER Hacks for your project to be judged.
*IMPORTANT*
Submission
Submission will be open from 2:00 PM PST, February 7th, 2026 to 2:00 PM PST, February 8th, 2026. Judging will occur 3:20 PM on Feb 8th according to the [judging criteria] and awards will be announced at the ceremony at 6:00 PM.
Demos
After hacking finishes, teams will present live demos what they have built. It is totally okay (and even expected) that your hack is incomplete and contains bugs. Demoing is a chance to share with others what you have learned, what you tried to build, and your motivation—that's what hacking's truly about! Please submit your github repository link.
This year, hackers will be presenting live. There will be live Q&A time between the judges and the teams. Demos will be 3-4 mins long. Q&A will be 1 minute.
Checklist:
- Did the hack address a clearly defined problem space that benefited from this development? Did your team explore a new application domain (e.g. art, health, etc.) with which you weren’t previously familiar?
- How relevant and creative was your project in solving an issue within the track you chose to follow?
- What technologies did your team leverage? Why is the technology appropriate for your problem, and how was it used?
- Was your team methodical and collaborative in your hacking process? Did your team overcome any obstacles or major goal changes during hacking?
- Did your team put thought into the user experience? What accessibility considerations did you make?
Prizes
Please only choose ONE track prize (don't worry, you can opt-in to multiple superlative prizes!). The superlative prizes will have their own separate criteria which can be seen under the prize names.
Prizes
Track 1: Preserve
Preserve (1st Place) - LEGO Bonsai Tree, Smartphone Picture Printer Kit, Sherpa Blanket, MLH Winner Pins
Preserve (2nd Place) - 2 keyboards + 2 projectors, Fairy Lights, Jellycat Plush
Preserve (3rd Place) - Crochet Kit, Fleece Throw, Plush Robe, Mini Cards Against Humanity
Track 2: Nurture
Nurture (1st Place) - Kindle, Echo Pop Speaker, Steamer, MLH Winner Pins
Nurture (2nd Place) - Luxury Sleep Mask, Essential Oil Diffuser, Satin Pillowcase, Air Purifier, Stanley
Nurture (3rd Place) - Yoga Mat, Cards Against Humanity Science Pack, Waterproof JBL Running Earbuds
Track 3: Innovate
Innovate (1st place) - DigiCam, Lego Car, Suitcase, MLH Winner Pins
Innovate (2nd place) - Ice rollers, Portable Monitor
Innovate (3rd place) - Electric Screwdriver Kit, Portable Chargers, NutriBullet
Best Web App
Mini Cards Against Humanity Set (4)
Most Innovative
Essential Oil Diffuser
Most Accessible
Owala Water Bottle
Most Likely to Unicorn
Weighted Unicorn Plush
Best Idea
Owala Mugs
Most Slayful UI
Lego Botanicals
Most Sustainable
Touchland Hand Sanitizers
Best URL
Indoor Seed Garden
Most Efficient
Carhartt Beanie
Most QWER
Rainbow LED Night Light + 3 qwer tarot card set
Best Impact
Exercise Yoga Mat
Best Machine Learning
Waterproof Speakers
Best Technical
LogiTech Gaming Mouse
Best Use of Gemini API - MLH
*Google Swag Kits*
It’s time to push the boundaries of what's possible with AI using Google Gemini. Check out the Gemini API to build AI-powered apps that make your friends say WHOA. So, what can Gemini do for your hackathon project?
Understand language like a human and build a chatbot that gives personalized advice
Analyze info like a supercomputer and create an app that summarizes complex research papers
Generate creative content like code, scripts, music, and more
Think of the possibilities… what will you build with the Google Gemini API this weekend?
Best Use of Solana - MLH
*Ledger Nano S Plus*
The world of development is evolving fast and Solana is leading the charge with a network built to handle all of your infrastructure needs. Forget high fees and slow confirmations, it’s time to build applications that are fast, efficient, and scalable.
Harness Solana's core advantages like blazing fast execution and near-zero transaction costs to make your hackathon ideas become real world projects. With Solana, the possibilities are endless.
Create a game, social app, or consumer product that relies on instant, high-frequency transactions.
Design a sophisticated trading, lending, or decentralized exchange (DEX).
Build a prototype for supply chain, identity, or payments that can handle massive, real-world volume.
Show us how you can innovate with Solana for a chance to win some cool prizes for you and each member of your team!
Best Use of Vultr - MLH
*Portable Screens*
Vultr empowers hackers to bring their high-performance projects to life instantly; providing everything from the speed of one-click deployment and scalable cloud compute, to specialized Vultr Cloud GPUs that can power AI-driven applications. We want you to push the limits of what can be built when infrastructure is no longer the bottleneck!
Sign up for a Vultr account today and claim your free cloud credits! Take your next hack to the cloud with Vultr for a chance to win some awesome portable screens for you and your team!
Best Use of ElevenLabs - MLH
*Beats Solo Earbuds*
Deploy natural, human-sounding audio with ElevenLabs. Create realistic, dynamic, and emotionally expressive voices for any project, from interactive AI companions to narrated stories and voice-enabled apps. ElevenLabs will empower you to build rich, immersive experiences without the need for actors or complex audio production, using simply the power of AI.
Integrate fully autonomous audio experiences into your hack with ElevenLabs and give your project a voice, along with giving your team the chance to win some wireless earbuds!
Best Use of MongoDB Atlas - MLH
*M5Stack IoT Kit*
MongoDB Atlas takes the leading modern database and makes it accessible in the cloud! Get started with a $50 credit for students or sign up for the Atlas free forever tier (no credit card required). Along with a suite of services and functionalities, you'll have everything you need to manage all of your data, and you can get a headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your team.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
N/A
Judging Criteria
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Categories
Technology (appropriate use of format), Design, Completion, Topic Specific Criteria, Communication and Presentation -
General Rules
Judges will refer to the following six categories. Keep these in mind when pitching, and remember that some categories (such as completion) aren’t weighed as heavily as others! -
Reminders
It's important to note that these criteria do NOT evaluate how good your code is. It doesn't matter if your code is messy, not well commented, or uses inefficient algorithms. Hacking is about playing around, making mistakes, and learning new things.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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