> Last updated: 2026-03-19 > Deadline: April 30, 2026, 11:59 PM PST > Registration: https://microsoft.github.io/AIAgentsHackathon/ > Prize Pool: $45,000 (cash, USD, wire transfer)
A free, three-week virtual hackathon organized by Microsoft for building AI agents using Microsoft and Azure tools. This is the second annual edition — the 2025 inaugural event drew 18,000+ registrations and 570 submissions across 7 prize categories. Seven winners were selected by a panel of Microsoft engineers, product managers, and developer advocates.
| Milestone | Date |
| Registration opens | Now (open) |
| Expert sessions begin | ~April 8, 2026 |
| Expert sessions end | ~April 24, 2026 |
| Submission deadline | April 30, 2026, 11:59 PM PST |
| Judging period | ~May 1-14, 2026 |
| Winners announced | ~Mid-May 2026 |
| Category | Prize | What It Rewards |
| Best Overall Agent | $20,000 | End-to-end excellence across all criteria. The big one. |
| Best Agent in Python | $5,000 | Best agent built primarily in Python |
| Best Agent in C# | $5,000 | Best agent built primarily in C#/.NET |
| Best Agent in Java | $5,000 | Best agent built primarily in Java |
| Best Agent in JavaScript/TypeScript | $5,000 | Best agent built primarily in JS/TS |
| Best Copilot Agent | $5,000 | Best agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio or Microsoft 365 Agents SDK |
| Best Azure AI Agent Service Usage | $5,000 | Best demonstration of Azure AI Agent Service (now Foundry Agent Service) |
Important rules:
Each criterion is weighted at 20% (equal weight):
| Criterion (20% each) | What Judges Want |
| Innovation | Originality, creativity, engaging demo. Is this novel? |
| Impact | Practical value for organizations, schools, or communities. Does this solve a real problem? |
| Usability | Real-world problem-solving. Human-in-the-Loop design. Responsible AI alignment. |
| Solution Quality | Documentation, code comments, security practices, architecture diagrams, sophisticated implementation. NOT just a tutorial copy. |
| Category Alignment | Fit with designated language/technology. AI must be central to functionality, not a bolted-on afterthought. |
Judges: Microsoft engineers, product managers, and developer advocates. Decisions are final.
The biggest change from 2025: Microsoft Agent Framework reached Release Candidate in February 2026 and is targeting 1.0 GA by end of Q1 2026. This unifies Semantic Kernel + AutoGen into a single framework. For the 2026 hackathon, this is almost certainly the recommended primary tool.
| Your Situation | Recommendation |
| Starting fresh, targeting Best Overall | Microsoft Agent Framework (Python or .NET) + Azure AI Foundry Agent Service |
| Strong Python developer | Agent Framework (Python) or Semantic Kernel Python |
| Strong C#/.NET developer | Agent Framework (.NET) or Semantic Kernel C# |
| Java developer | LangChain4j + Azure AI (only option for Java track) |
| JS/TS developer | LlamaIndex.TS or Azure AI SDK for JS |
| Non-coder / low-code | Copilot Studio (target the Copilot Agent prize) |
| Want fastest path to working demo | Copilot Studio or Azure AI Foundry Agent Service quickstart |
Based on the 2025 pattern, expect 20+ expert-led sessions streamed live on YouTube from ~April 8-24. Sessions are organized by language track:
Priority sessions to attend: Agents 101 kickoff, Mastering Agentic RAG, Multi-Agent API with LangGraph, and whichever language-track sessions match your target category.
| Winner | Category | Key Pattern |
| RiskWise (Best Overall, $20K) | Supply chain risk analysis | Multi-data-source integration, real-world enterprise problem, polished UI, Semantic Kernel + Azure AI Agent Service |
| Apollo (C#, $5K) | Deep research meta-agent | Multi-agent orchestration (named sub-agents), self-reflective RAG, state machine, sophisticated architecture |
| Bit2Brain (Java, $5K) | Knowledge management | Novel visualization (Knowledge Star Map), multimodal input, creative UX |
| WorkWizee (Copilot, $5K) | Incident management | Teams integration, connected to real enterprise tools (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket), clear ROI (40% time savings) |
| ModelProof (JS/TS, $5K) | AI safety/trust | Dual-LLM verification, novel approach to a hot topic (AI hallucination detection) |
| TARIFFED! (Azure AI Service, $5K) | Tariff analysis | Heavy use of Azure AI Agent Service features, Bing Search grounding, practical domain |
| Konveyor (Python, $5K) | Knowledge transfer | Solved real organizational pain (knowledge loss), clean Semantic Kernel implementation |
Based on 2025 data (570 submissions across 7 categories):
| Category | Competition Level | Reasoning |
| Best Agent in Java | LOWEST | Java has the smallest AI agent ecosystem. Fewer developers enter this track. Only LangChain4j as the primary framework. |
| Best Copilot Agent | LOW | Requires Copilot Studio / M365 Agents SDK — narrows the field to people with M365 licenses |
| Best Azure AI Agent Service | LOW-MEDIUM | Requires Azure spend, which filters out many hobbyists |
| Best Agent in C# | MEDIUM | .NET has a loyal but smaller community for AI compared to Python |
| Best Agent in JS/TS | MEDIUM | Growing ecosystem but fewer mature frameworks |
| Best Agent in Python | HIGHEST | Python is the dominant AI language. Most submissions will be Python. |
| Best Overall | HIGHEST | Everyone's automatically eligible. Judged across all entries. |
Optimal strategy for maximum expected value:
No. Each team can only win one category. However, your project is automatically considered for Best Overall regardless of which language category you enter. So if you enter "Best Agent in Java" you could win either the Java prize OR Best Overall (but not both).
Description: A multi-agent system that monitors regulatory changes across jurisdictions (FDA, EU GDPR, SEC, etc.), analyzes how they affect a company's existing policies, and generates compliance action items with priority rankings. Agents specialize in: (1) regulatory monitoring/scraping, (2) policy comparison, (3) risk scoring, (4) action item generation.
Tech Stack: Microsoft Agent Framework (Python), Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, Azure OpenAI GPT-4o, Azure Cosmos DB (vector store), Bing Search grounding, React frontend
Target Category: Best Overall ($20K) + Best Azure AI Agent Service Usage ($5K) as fallback
Build Timeline:
Demo Script: "Meet ComplianceBot. I'm a compliance officer at a mid-size pharma company. I just ask: 'What new FDA regulations from this month affect our clinical trial procedures?' [Show agent chain: monitor agent finds changes, comparison agent maps to existing policies, risk agent scores impact, action agent generates to-do list with deadlines]. Our multi-agent architecture processes in parallel, and the human-in-the-loop review ensures nothing ships without approval."
Description: A multi-agent tutoring system where specialized agents handle different subjects and collaborate. A coordinator agent routes student questions to the right specialist, tracks learning progress in a knowledge graph, identifies knowledge gaps, and generates personalized study plans. Designed for K-12 and university settings.
Tech Stack: Semantic Kernel (C#/.NET 9), .NET Aspire for orchestration, Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, Azure Cosmos DB, Blazor WebAssembly frontend
Target Category: Best Agent in C# ($5K) — lower competition than Python
Build Timeline:
Demo Script: "A student asks about photosynthesis. The coordinator routes to the biology agent, which explains the concept and generates a practice question. The student struggles, so the coordinator brings in the chemistry agent to explain the chemical equations involved. The knowledge graph updates in real time, showing the student's gap in organic chemistry. A personalized study plan is generated."
Description: An AI agent system for investment bankers that automates due diligence document analysis. Upload financial statements, contracts, and regulatory filings — agents extract key terms, flag risks, compare against industry benchmarks, and generate a structured due diligence report. Built specifically for the Java prize category.
Tech Stack: LangChain4j, Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, Azure OpenAI, Azure Blob Storage, Neo4j (relationship mapping between entities), Java Spring Boot backend, React frontend
Target Category: Best Agent in Java ($5K) — lowest competition category
Build Timeline:
Demo Script: "I'm uploading a target company's last 3 years of financials and their key contracts. The extraction agent identifies $12M in contingent liabilities hidden in footnote 14. The risk agent flags a change-of-control clause in their biggest customer contract. The benchmark agent shows their margins are 3 points below industry. Here's the auto-generated due diligence summary with all risks prioritized."
Description: A no-code/low-code incident management agent built in Copilot Studio that lives inside Microsoft Teams. When a P1 incident fires, the agent automatically creates a war room channel, pulls relevant runbooks, suggests diagnosis steps, coordinates communication to stakeholders, and auto-generates post-incident reports. Similar to 2025 winner WorkWizee but more comprehensive.
Tech Stack: Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Agents SDK, Teams Toolkit, Power Automate, Azure Functions (for API integrations), ServiceNow/PagerDuty connectors
Target Category: Best Copilot Agent ($5K) — distinct category, fewer entrants
Build Timeline:
Demo Script: "An alert fires — CPU at 98% on prod-db-01. I type in Teams: '@IncidentCommander escalate prod-db-01 CPU alert.' The agent creates a war room, pulls the relevant runbook, suggests 'Check for long-running queries — here are the top 5 by CPU from the last hour.' I approve the suggested remediation. Post-resolution, it auto-generates a blameless post-incident report with timeline."
Description: A multi-agent system for academic researchers that monitors funding opportunities, matches grants to researcher profiles, drafts preliminary application outlines, and manages deadlines. Built in TypeScript to target the JS/TS prize category.
Tech Stack: LlamaIndex.TS, Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, Azure OpenAI, Azure Cosmos DB, Node.js/Express backend, Next.js frontend
Target Category: Best Agent in JavaScript/TypeScript ($5K)
Build Timeline:
Demo Script: "I'm a computational biology professor. I import my publication list and research statement. GrantScout's monitoring agent has found 47 new funding opportunities this month. The matching agent ranks the top 5 by fit score. For the #1 match — an NIH R01 on 'Computational approaches to protein folding' — the drafting agent generates a preliminary specific aims page based on my recent papers. All deadlines are tracked on my dashboard."
pip install semantic-kernel or pip install microsoft-agent-frameworkdotnet add package Microsoft.SemanticKernelnpm install llamaindexgit clone https://github.com/microsoft/AI_Agents_Hackathon| Resource | Amount | How to Get |
| Azure Free Trial | $200 for 30 days | https://azure.microsoft.com/free/ — sign up with any email |
| Azure for Students | $100 (no credit card) | https://azure.microsoft.com/free/students/ — requires .edu email |
| GitHub Models | Free tier | https://github.com/marketplace/models — rate-limited but free GPT-4o, Llama, Mistral access |
| Azure free tier services | Always free | 12 months of popular services free + 65+ always-free services |
| Resource | Link |
| Microsoft Agent Framework docs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/overview/ |
| AI Agents for Beginners course | https://microsoft.github.io/ai-agents-for-beginners/ |
| Copilot Studio Agent Academy | https://microsoft.github.io/agent-academy/ |
| Semantic Kernel Learn path | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/develop-ai-agents-azure-open-ai-semantic-kernel-sdk/ |
| Build Your First Agent Workshop | https://microsoft.github.io/build-your-first-agent-with-azure-ai-agent-service-workshop/ |
| TheSource EHub AI Agents | https://aka.ms/thesource/ai_agents |
| Azure AI Foundry Agent Service quickstart | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/agents/quickstart |
| Hackathon skilling resources | https://aka.ms/AIAgent_Skilling |
| Metric | Value |
| 2025 registrations | 18,000+ developers |
| 2025 submissions | 570 projects |
| Conversion rate | ~3% (registration to submission) |
| Winners | 7 (one per category) |
| Win rate (of submissions) | ~1.2% per category |
| Win rate (of registrations) | ~0.04% per category |
| Prize per winner | $5K-$20K |
| Expected value per submission | ~$79 ($45K / 570) |
Difficulty: MODERATE. Here's why:
In your favor:
Against you:
| Hackathon | Prize | Competition | Difficulty | Value Assessment |
| Microsoft AI Agents | $45K | 570 submissions | Moderate | Good risk/reward. Multiple categories help. |
| GPU MODE E2E Speedrun | $1.1M | Unknown (expert) | Very Hard | Higher prizes but requires elite GPU skills |
| 0G APAC Hackathon | $150K | New (low) | Moderate | Higher prizes, less proven organizer |
| DrivenData Children's Speech | $70K | 589 entrants | Hard | Pure ML competition, single leaderboard |
| Kaggle BirdCLEF+ | $50K | 3,659 entrants | Very Hard | Much more competitive for similar money |
Bottom line: This is one of the best risk/reward hackathons available right now. Free entry, multiple prize paths, Microsoft backing, accessible technology, and a 3-week build window. The main investment is your time.
Supply chain risk analysis. Python + React/Next.js + Azure AI Agent Service + Semantic Kernel + SQL.
Multi-agent research assistant. C#/.NET + Semantic Kernel + Azure AI Agent Service + React + PostgreSQL/pgvector.
Knowledge management with "Knowledge Star Map." LangChain4j + Azure Video Indexer + Neo4j.
P1/P2 incident management in Teams. Copilot Studio + Azure Functions + Jira/Confluence/Bitbucket APIs.
Dual-LLM consistency checking for AI trust. TypeScript + Node.js + Azure OpenAI.
Tariff analysis system. Azure AI Agent Service + C#/.NET 9 + Blazor + SQL Server + Bing Search.
Organizational knowledge transfer. Python + Semantic Kernel + OpenAI + vector database.
This guide is based on the 2025 hackathon structure and rules. The 2026 edition may have changes to categories, prize amounts, or technology requirements. Check https://microsoft.github.io/AIAgentsHackathon/ for the official 2026 rules when they are published. The core structure is expected to remain very similar based on Microsoft's hackathon patterns.