Wednesday, Oct 28 · presented by Rival Technologies

$5,000 for the best data story anyone can tell in 48 hours.

Round 5 of the Rival Technologies Data Storytelling Hackathon — the longest-running hackathon in the BC AI scene. Weekend build, Wednesday presentations, winners announced live at the Vancouver AI Meetup.

Get Wednesday pass — from $125 About Rival Technologies ↗

First Place — $5,000

Second Place — $2,000

Third Place — $1,000

People's Choice — $500

Hall of Fame Bonus — $1,000

Total prize pool: $9,500. Hall of Fame bonus awarded annually.

Rules

The rules are short.

Rule 01

Weekend-only build window

48 hours, Saturday 9 AM to Sunday 9 AM. Kickoff at the Expo on Wednesday, submissions due for judging Wednesday evening at the Vancouver AI Meetup.

Rule 02

Dataset provided by Rival Technologies

All teams work with the same anonymized dataset. The dataset is released at kickoff. Topic announced publicly 1 week before.

Rule 03

AI-first tools are encouraged

Use Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, whatever. Vibe coding is expected. Just tell the story in your deliverable.

Rule 04

Teams of 1-4

Solo entries welcome (Prajwal wins solo regularly). Max team size is 4.

Rule 05

Judged live at the Meetup

Each team gets 5 minutes. Live vote (community) + jury scoring (Rival Technologies + BC + AI board).

Rule 06

Be weird, be honest

The best entries have always been the ones that cared about something real. Hotdogs, grandma's advice, music that responds to your nervous system.

Hall of Fame

The ones we had to name specifically.

The Vibe Coding Pioneer

Prajwal

Inducted: Round 4 — October 2025

Consecutive 2nd places

$1,000

Hall of Fame bonus

Vibe Coding

Discovery

"I don't have to worry so much about the code, just focus on user experience. Yeah, we got our own little Andrej Karpathy here."

From rule-following high schooler to independently inventing vibe coding — spending weeks on user experience, only days on implementation. Currently at Langara. Unhirable due to immigration status despite multiple offers. Mentors Black youth at Ethos Lab. One of the smartest in the community.

A concept

What is vibe coding?

Prajwal coined it independently during Round 3. It's the paradigm shift from code-first to concept-first development:

— Spend weeks thinking about the user experience

— Spend days implementing

— Focus on WHAT, not HOW

— Let the AI handle implementation while you focus on vision

"Even though it feels like I'm sacrificing my time, I really, really enjoy building them."

— Prajwal, 2024

Past Rounds

Four rounds. 40+ participants. $10K+ distributed.

May 2024

Theme

"Is a hot dog a sandwich?"

· $2,000 prize pool
· Absurd prompt set the tone for the series
· Weekend format established

Winner

Darby Yu

Dr. Veek

An anthropomorphic vegetable nutritionist with uncannily good bedside manner. The breakout entry of Round 1.

Runner-up

Sev Geraskin

HotDogma

Summer 2024

Theme

Canadian Identity in Data

· Introduced semantic AI approaches to the hackathon
· Sev's second top placement

Winner

Sev Geraskin (with April AI)

Wisdom Lantern

Ambient data visualization that made survey results feel like folklore.

Runner-up

Prajwal

Semantic Visualization Pipeline

August 26, 2024

Theme

AI's Impact on BC

· $2,500 prize pool
· Sev Geraskin inducted into Hall of Fame for "The Orchestrator"
· Prajwal independently discovers "vibe coding"

Winner

Dean Shev

BC+AI.death — a concept album

A full album about AI anxieties in the BC tech scene. Dark, funny, uncomfortably good. Grand prize winner.

Runner-up

Prajwal

Artificial Round Table

October 29, 2025

Theme

Music & Emotion

· $3,500 prize pool
· Held alongside 1st Annual BC + AI Film Festival at HR MacMillan
· Prajwal places 2nd for the 4th consecutive round — inducted to Hall of Fame
· $10K+ total prizes across 4 rounds

Winner

Andre & Taras

Canadian Music DNA

Real-time generative composition mapped to Canadian music heritage.

Runner-up

Prajwal

Plato AI

Build weird. Build honest. Win $5,000.

Team registration opens May 2026. Until then — get your Wednesday pass or Week Pass to secure your spot.

Get tickets Wednesday Job Fair →

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The rules are short.

Rule 01

Weekend-only build window

48 hours, Saturday 9 AM to Sunday 9 AM. Kickoff at the Expo on Wednesday, submissions due for judging Wednesday evening at the Vancouver AI Meetup.

Rule 02

Dataset provided by Rival Technologies

All teams work with the same anonymized dataset. The dataset is released at kickoff. Topic announced publicly 1 week before.

Rule 03

AI-first tools are encouraged

Use Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, whatever. Vibe coding is expected. Just tell the story in your deliverable.

Rule 04

Teams of 1-4

Solo entries welcome (Prajwal wins solo regularly). Max team size is 4.

Rule 05

Judged live at the Meetup

Each team gets 5 minutes. Live vote (community) + jury scoring (Rival Technologies + BC + AI board).

Rule 06

Be weird, be honest

The best entries have always been the ones that cared about something real. Hotdogs, grandma's advice, music that responds to your nervous system.

What is vibe coding?

Prajwal coined it independently during Round 3. It's the paradigm shift from code-first to concept-first development:

— Spend weeks thinking about the user experience

— Spend days implementing

— Focus on WHAT, not HOW

— Let the AI handle implementation while you focus on vision

"Even though it feels like I'm sacrificing my time, I really, really enjoy building them."

— Prajwal, 2024

Four rounds. 40+ participants. $10K+ distributed.

May 2024

Theme

"Is a hot dog a sandwich?"

· $2,000 prize pool
· Absurd prompt set the tone for the series
· Weekend format established

Winner

Darby Yu

Dr. Veek

An anthropomorphic vegetable nutritionist with uncannily good bedside manner. The breakout entry of Round 1.

Runner-up

Sev Geraskin

HotDogma

Summer 2024

Theme

Canadian Identity in Data

· Introduced semantic AI approaches to the hackathon
· Sev's second top placement

Winner

Sev Geraskin (with April AI)

Wisdom Lantern

Ambient data visualization that made survey results feel like folklore.

Runner-up

Prajwal

Semantic Visualization Pipeline

August 26, 2024

Theme

AI's Impact on BC

· $2,500 prize pool
· Sev Geraskin inducted into Hall of Fame for "The Orchestrator"
· Prajwal independently discovers "vibe coding"

Winner

Dean Shev

BC+AI.death — a concept album

A full album about AI anxieties in the BC tech scene. Dark, funny, uncomfortably good. Grand prize winner.

Runner-up

Prajwal

Artificial Round Table

October 29, 2025

Theme

Music & Emotion

· $3,500 prize pool
· Held alongside 1st Annual BC + AI Film Festival at HR MacMillan
· Prajwal places 2nd for the 4th consecutive round — inducted to Hall of Fame
· $10K+ total prizes across 4 rounds

Winner

Andre & Taras

Canadian Music DNA

Real-time generative composition mapped to Canadian music heritage.

Runner-up

Prajwal

Plato AI