CHENNAI'S FIRST APPLIED AI HACKATHON

ROCKATHON'26

BUILD AI. WIN REAL.

Chennai's first applied AI hackathon — built for engineering students. Two rounds, Claude-certified mentor support, and a ₹1,00,000 prize pool. Build something real.

GRAND FINALE · SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2026 · CHENNAI

CHAMPIONS CROWNED

Thirty finalist teams. One stage in Chennai. Meet the winners of Rockathon’26.

TEAM LOGIN → VIEW WINNERS ↓

/ 01 · THE ROSTER

COMMUNITY PARTNER

The community standing behind Rockathon'26.

Elastic User Group Chennai

Chennai's Elastic developer community.

PLATINUM SPONSORS

Backing Chennai's first applied AI hackathon.

Platinum Sponsor

Platinum Sponsor

REFRESHMENT SPONSORS

Keeping the finals fed on hackathon day.

Vimala's Home Bakery

Fresh, rich & tasty home bakes.

Kana Foods

Feeding the floor through the build.

SQUARESHIFT'S TRUSTED PARTNERS

Cloud & AI partnerships and specialisations held by SquareShift, the organiser — the engineering bench behind the build.

Google Cloud Machine Learning Specialization

Google Cloud Data Analytics Specialization

/ 02 · REGISTRATIONS

THE PRIZE ORB IS FILLING

Transparent glass sphere filled with gold cash and coins, hanging above a crowd looking up in a dark arena

₹1,00,000

PRIZE POOL · BE THE FIRST

ROUNDS

₹499

PER HEAD · TEAMS OF 2–3

/ 03 · ON CAMPUS

WHERE ROCKATHON IS LANDING

Students across 25 campuses in Tamil Nadu and beyond are hearing about Rockathon’26. Yours should be one of them.

Indian Institute of Information Technology, Sri City

Loyola-ICAM College of Engineering and Technology

New Prince Shri Bhavani College of Engineering and Technology

Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research

SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Ramapuram

Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies (VISTAS)

/ 04 · HALL OF FAME

THE LEADERBOARD IS LOCKED

Chennai’s first applied AI hackathon has its champions. Thirty teams made the Grand Finale stage on August 22, 2026. These are the five that took it.

#1 · CHAMPION

StackNStake

SRM University of Science and Technology

🏆

CHAMPION

₹60,000

#2 · RUNNER-UP

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IIIT Sricity

RUNNER-UP

₹25,000

#3 · 2ND RUNNER-UP

Hack Forge

SSN College of Engineering

2ND RUNNER-UP

₹15,000

SPECIAL AWARDS

BEST AI INTEGRATION

Cognix

Kings Engineering College, Sriperumbudur

BEST CREATIVITY

SynapseX

SSN College of Engineering

/ 05 · THE RUN OF PLAY

EVENT TIMELINE

DONE

REGISTRATION CLOSED

Teams of 2–3 members at ₹499 per head. The field is now locked.

DONE

PROBLEM STATEMENT RELEASED

Two applied AI problem statements issued to every registered team.

DONE

ROUND 1 · ONLINE SCREENING

Teams analysed the problem statement and pitched their solution as a deck.

DONE

ROUND 2 · GRAND FINALE

Thirty finalist teams built and pitched live to the judges in Chennai on August 22.

📍 Venue · Chennai View Location ↗

DONE

CHAMPIONS CROWNED

₹1,00,000 split across the top three teams, two special awards, and a certificate for every team that presented.

/ 06 · THE RULEBOOK

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Engineering students across Chennai — this is the city’s first applied AI hackathon. Enter as a team and build.

No. Beginners are welcome, and every team gets Claude-certified mentor support across both rounds to help you level up fast.

₹499 per head. Teams are 2–3 members — so ₹998 for a team of two, or ₹1,497 for a team of three.

Two rounds: an online screening round, then a grand finale where top teams build live and pitch to the judges.

Any applied-AI project — tools, agents, products. Problem statements and tracks are shared at kickoff.

You do. 100%. Whatever you create stays yours to keep, ship, and grow.

/ 07 · BACK THE BUILDERS

BECOME A SPONSOR

Put your brand in front of Chennai's most driven engineering talent. Platinum & Gold slots are open — want your logo here?

₹1,00,000 PRIZE POOL · AWARDED

THAT’S A WRAP

Rockathon’26 is done. Thank you to every team that built, every mentor who guided, and every college that backed them. Grand Finale certificates have been emailed to every team that presented, and your result is in the dashboard.

TEAM LOGIN →

ROCKETONE · ORGANIZER

SQUARESHIFT · ORGANIZER