About the challenge

Build for Better is a 12-hour hackathon hosted by GRIDS x VGSA centered on AI for Health & Well-Being. Teams will build projects across three main tracks—Design (Human-Centered AI), Care (AI for Student Well-Being), and Create (Intelligent Systems)—with an optional sponsor challenge for Anthropic Claude integration. The event is designed to encourage meaningful, responsible, and innovative solutions that improve student life, accessibility, mental health support, and practical AI system design.

 

Requirements

What to Build

1) Design — Human-Centric AI

Build solutions that prioritize usability, accessibility, transparency, trust, and strong interaction design.

2) Care — AI for Well-Being

Create tools that support mental health, stress reduction, resource navigation, and student well-being, with safety and privacy at the center.

3) Create — Intelligent Systems

Develop technically sophisticated systems such as AI pipelines, agents, models, and backend workflows that solve real-world problems.

Bonus Sponsor Track: Claude (Anthropic)

Teams can choose to integrate the Anthropic Claude API/SDK for an eligible bonus prize. To qualify, the project must clearly document how Claude is used in the README and presentation.

What to Submit

  • Human-centered AI interfaces and prototypes
  • Student well-being assistants and support tools
  • Resource navigation and recommendation systems
  • AI-powered workflows, agents, or backend systems
  • Creative uses of Claude for summarization, reasoning, planning, or assistance

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$300+ in prizes
+ other prizes
First Place
$150 in cash
1 winner

Second Place
$100 in cash
1 winner

Third Place
$50 in cash
1 winner

Participation
50 winners

All participants are eligible for a $50 Claude API credits

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Saty Raghavachary

Saty Raghavachary
Associate Professor of Computer Science Practice, USC

Franck Leveneur

Franck Leveneur
Founder at Data-sleek

Judging Criteria

  • Criteria
    Projects are judged on impact, technical quality, usability, and creativity. Emphasis is placed on responsible AI, accessibility, and alignment with well-being. Clear demos and strong presentations matter. Claude use is considered for the sponsor track.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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