The World Wide Vibes hackathon is a global, virtual event scheduled from Thursday, March 5 to Monday, March 9, 2026 inviting innovators, students, and builders of all skill levels to participate. The program is centered on solving real-world city challenges for the City of Montgomery by developing applications using AI, official datasets, and creative problem-solving. It is designed to be accessible, especially for absolute beginners, providing a platform to learn and apply modern development techniques in a supportive environment.
Program Overview
• Event Name: World Wide Vibes
• Dates: The hackathon runs from March 5 to March 9, with workshops and inductions beginning on March 2.
• Objective: To build real-world applications for the City of Montgomery using official datasets and Bright Data tooling.
• Target Audience: Open to a global audience of innovators, students, and builders. All skill levels are welcome, with a specific focus on accommodating absolute beginners.
• Format: The event is fully virtual, with all activities conducted online.
Key Features and Learning Opportunities
• Vibe Coding Basics: Participants will learn the fundamentals of AI prompt engineering with Google AI Studio, enabling them to build a functional web application within 48 hours without traditional coding.
• Data Resources: Access will be provided to the City of Montgomery's open data portal and the Bright Data web data platform for scraping real-time information.
• Certification: Participants who complete and submit a project will receive a certificate of completion issued by GenAI Works.
• Skill Development: The program includes workshops to master AI integration with LLMs like Gemini and GPT, rapid prototyping, vibe coding, and ethical data scraping using Bright Data.
Prize Pool and Recognition
• Total Prize Bounty: $5,000
• First Place: $2,500
• Second Place: $1,500
• Third Place: $750
• Best Beginner Vibe: $250, sponsored by Bright Data.
• Evaluation Criteria: Projects will be judged on their relevance, execution quality, originality, social impact, and commercial potential, with a focus on excellence in vibe coding, data utility, and civic impact.
Challenge Streams
• Civic Access & Community Communication: Develop tools that scrape live city updates, power resident-facing chatbots, or track sentiment and misinformation.
• Workforce, Business & Economic Growth: Create dashboards to collect job postings, identify hiring trends, and monitor signals of business growth.
• Smart Cities, Infrastructure & Public Spaces: Build systems that pull traffic, housing, and construction data from public sources.
• Public Safety, Emergency Response & City Analytics: Design responsible analytics that use alerts, news, and incident patterns to add context to public safety data.
Event Agenda
• Phase 01 (Monday, March 2): Workshop on AI-assisted prototyping, rapid vibe coding workflows, and using Bright data.
• Phase 02 (Tuesday, March 3): Participant induction covering rules, tools, timeline, and judging criteria.
• Phase 03 (Wednesday, March 4): Mentor induction outlining expectations, judging framework, and support processes.
• Phase 04 (Thursday, March 5 - Saturday, March 7): Hackathon officially begins at 9am Central. Team registration deadline is Saturday, March 7.
• Phase 05 (Monday, March 9): Project submission deadline at 9am Central.
• Phase 06 (Friday, March 21): A livestreamed announcement will reveal the winners.
Participation and Support
• Eligibility: Participation is free and open to anyone worldwide.
• Experience Level: No prior coding experience is required.
• Team Formation: Participants can join solo or form a team of up to five members, with matchmaking support available.
• Submission Requirements: Teams must submit a working prototype along with a short presentation or demo.
• Support: Participants will have access to live workshops, mentors, Slack support, and office hours throughout the event.
Judging Panel
• Remus Ranca: Head of Education, GenAI Works
• Rafael Levi: DevRel Engineer, Bright Data
• Bryn Bakoyema: Education Manager, Alabama State University
• Sam Cummings: Innovation Manager, GenAI Works
• Tony Porterfield: CTO, City of Montgomery
• Janson Lim: VP Product, GenAI Works
• Chris McMilan: IT Manager, City of Montgomery
This hackathon presents an opportunity for individuals to gain practical AI skills, develop portfolio-worthy projects, and address meaningful civic issues. By participating, builders can compete for a significant prize pool and connect with a global community of creators, all while learning cutting-edge techniques in application development and data utilization.