A live Wednesday session where your team gets a theme, builds a working AI solution in about two and a half hours, and pitches it to leading industry experts and investors. Sign your group up below.
One entry per group. After you submit, we will show you our pitching guidelines so you can start preparing right away.
We have your details and will email your group the theme brief and joining instructions before the session. You will build during the Wednesday Buildathon and then pitch your idea in under five minutes. Here is how to make those five minutes count.
Practical tips: assign roles before you present (one demos, one narrates), rehearse once against a timer, and cut anything that does not help the judges say yes. Speak to the panel, not to your screen.
Questions before the session? Email info@beagenius.org.
The Buildathon happens in one live Wednesday session that runs for about two and a half hours. There is no prep theme in advance: you build on the day.
At the start of the session, every group is given the same theme. The clock starts once the theme is revealed.
Use AI tools to build a real, working solution to the theme, live, during the session. Not a plan or a mockup, something that runs.
Leading industry experts and investors assess and grade your work during the session, using the rubric below.
Each group pitches its idea and demo to the panel in under five minutes. Sign up first to unlock the pitch guidelines.
You can build with any tools you like. These are all free to start and popular for going from idea to a working solution fast. Set up your accounts before Wednesday so you are ready when the theme drops.
Describe an app in plain language and it builds a working web app you can keep editing.
Prompt to a full-stack web app in the browser, then tweak and deploy without setup.
Turn a description into a clean, working interface you can copy into your project.
Plan, write and debug code, draft copy and reason through your solution with you.
Free access to Gemini models for text, images and prototyping AI features.
Free open models and a place to host a live demo of your solution.
Tool names belong to their respective owners and are listed for your convenience. Free tiers and features can change, so check each site before the session.
A panel of leading industry experts and investors assesses and grades every group during the session. Scores are out of 100, spread across these areas. Use it as your checklist while you build.
| Criteria | What the judges look for | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Working solution | Does it actually run and do what you say? A real, functioning build beats a great idea that does not work. | 30 |
| Fit to the theme | How well the solution answers the theme you were given and solves a real problem within it. | 20 |
| Innovation & creativity | Originality of the idea and a smart, creative use of AI rather than the obvious approach. | 15 |
| Technical execution | How well the AI tools are used, how the pieces fit together, and the quality of the build under time pressure. | 15 |
| Impact & potential | Who it helps, how much it could matter, and whether it could grow beyond the session. | 10 |
| Pitch & presentation | A clear, confident pitch delivered in under five minutes that the whole panel can follow. | 10 |
| Total | 100 | |
New to team competitions? That is fine. The Buildathon rewards groups that build something real and explain it clearly. Sign up, set up your free tools, and come ready to work.
For questions, contact us at info@beagenius.org.
The 2026 AI Buildathon for Teens is made possible by the support of these organisations, who believe in giving Caribbean youth the tools to build.