Legacy

Past Winners

A curated look at the projects that lit up HackTJ over the last two seasons. From medical breakthroughs to whimsical lifestyle tools, these teams show what's possible when creativity meets code.

HackTJ 12.0

2025 Award Winners

A sky themed palette set the stage for our 2025 expedition, spotlighting the teams that pushed to new horizons.

13 Awards
AlgoRhythm project photo

Best Overall Hack

AlgoRhythm

AlgoRhythm gives beginner songwriters an AI-powered studio where melodies become complete arrangements in seconds.

Team • Abraham Agbota, Ryan Ghimire, Justin Ma, Arjun Babla

SearchParty project photo

Best Mobile Hack

SearchParty

SearchParty lets communities coordinate missing-person searches with live location sharing, task assignment, and heatmaps.

Team • Aryan Gadre, Kanishk Sivanandam, Chetan Maviti, Adarsh Bharadwaj

SafeScape project photo

Best AI/ML Hack

SafeScape

SafeScape gives civilians and first responders a shared AR-enabled map for navigation, reporting, and rapid triage.

Team • Ansh Malhotra, Nivaan Kaushal, Pratham Singh, Armaan Ahmed

QuantumFold project photo

Best Web Hack

QuantumFold

QuantumFold accelerates protein modeling by blending quantum computing with AlphaFold's accuracy.

Team • Deven Hagen, Justin Lee, Alan Zhu

Quantum Enhanced MRI Diagnostics project photo

Best Quantum Hack

Quantum Enhanced MRI Diagnostics

Quantum Enhanced MRI Diagnostics highlights regions of interest in scans using edge detection and amplitude encoding.

Team • Kashi Kamat, Sarvani Vemuri, Surbhi Singla

Circa project photo

Best Finance Hack

Circa

Circa turns bartering into a seamless on-chain experience so communities can lend, rent, and swap safely.

Team • Maneesh Vaddi, Agastya Sondhi, Arjun Chitla, Adhiraj Chhoda

PinPoint project photo

Best Lifestyle Hack

PinPoint

PinPoint slices long-form video into just the clips you care about with semantic search and time-stamped recall.

Team • Soham Jain, Shaurya Jain, Anmol Karan, Jason Hao

DeepShield project photo

Best Cyber Technology Hack

DeepShield

DeepShield is a browser extension that checks every frame for deepfakes directly on the page you're viewing.

Team • Rohan Honganoor, Amogh Katiki, Andrew Chen, Jayden Yang

RDD: Respiratory Disease Detection project photo

Best Biomedical Hack

RDD: Respiratory Disease Detection

RDD listens for tuberculosis markers and spots Parkinson's tremors to bring early diagnosis to any clinic.

Team • Luv, Anush, Sanjeev, Saatvik

Retro Rower project photo

Best Environmental Science Hack

Retro Rower

Retro Rower gamifies trash clean-up with a rowing simulator where players draft the most sustainable crew.

Team • Darwin Goldstein, Daniil Prokofev, Christoph Knaeble

AP Romance project photo

Best Beginner Hack

AP Romance

AP Romance personifies AP classes to make course exploration playful and far less intimidating.

Team • Nathalie Hatchuel, Sohana Bahl, Fay Amirullah

CyberGuard project photo

Best Use of ROAM AI Agent

CyberGuard

CyberGuard searches the public web for leaked credentials, validates them on-chain, and advises next steps.

Team • Shiv Davay, Aahan Sachdeva, Parthiv Maddipatla, Svaran Medavarapu

Jot It project photo

Vishnu Murthy Foundation Best Social Impact

Jot It

Jot It transforms handwritten prescriptions so pharmacists never have to guess at dosage again.

Team • Sophia Huang, Jacob Dipasupil, Avery Li, Ipek Sayar

HackTJ 11.0

2024 Award Winners

From pose-aware cameras to carbon trackers, the 2024 cohort proved just how broad student innovation can be.

14 Awards
WatchDog project photo

Best Overall Hack

WatchDog

WatchDog detects falls, fires, and sudden medical events, alerting loved ones instantly.

Team • Shaurya Jain, Arjun Babla, Anmol Karan, Ajith Sivakumar

Nutrium project photo

Best AI/ML Hack

Nutrium

Nutrium reads receipts or photos and turns them into recipes along with calorie guidance.

Team • Michael Rodriguez, Ryan Ghimire, Syed Raza Haider

WeCode project photo

Best Web Hack

WeCode

WeCode blends challenges, competitions, and learning resources into one collaborative dev hub.

Team • Drew Zauel, Nikhit Rachapudi, Max Weinstein, Eshwar Moorthy

Credit Score Simulator project photo

Best Finance Hack

Credit Score Simulator

Credit Score Simulator forecasts credit trajectories and offers hyper-personalized tips.

Team • Anika Saraf, Sahil Kapadia, Angelina Richter, Alina Chen

Bites project photo

Best Mobile Hack

Bites

Bites forecasts credit health on the go and explains how to improve it.

Team • Arvind Ragunathan, Brij Baghat, Rohan Kalahasty

Speaksearch project photo

Best Beginner Hack

Speaksearch

Speaksearch pairs speech recognition with head tracking so anyone can browse hands-free.

Team • Adhiraj Chhoda, Prateek Vadde

Best Design Hack

Fin

FIN reimagines stock discovery with a swipe-first interface inspired by consumer apps.

Team • Nivaan Kaushal, Pratham Singh, Armaan Ahmed, Ansh Malhotra

Best Biomedical Hack

Helping Hearts

Helping Hearts offers an accessible, non-invasive way to monitor hypertension from home.

Team • Ojas Chaudhary, Noah Kabiri, Alex Nassif, Phong Lam

Best Education Hack

IntegriKey

IntegriKey analyzes typing patterns to spot when students pivot from coursework to gaming.

Team • Aneesh Kalla, Abhikurupati

Best Environmental Science Hack

Your Carbon Foot

Your Carbon Foot uses NLP to estimate emissions and suggest greener routines.

Team • Maneesh Vaddi, Kevin Su, Rishab Nanduri

Best Cyber Technology Hack

Vigilant

Vigilant combines AI object detection with broadcast alerts to mobilize Amber-style responses.

Team • Deven Hagen, Justin Lee, Alan Zhu

Best Quantum Hack

Implementing a Pathfinding Heuristic

Implementing a Pathfinding Heuristic optimizes signal pathways for more targeted cancer treatments.

Team • Neha Chandran, Kade Yen, Enerel Munkhbaatar

Best Social Impact Hack

Look N Go

Look N Go merges voice and head control so people with motor impairments can browse freely.

Team • Anurag Perakalapudi, Arnav Gupta, Adarsh Bharadwaj

Best Lifestyle Hack

Cider

Cider distills long documents into event timelines using a large language model.

Team • Ray Shen, Ken Zhou

Your turn

Make history at HackTJ 13.0

Registration opens soon, but you can start sketching ideas today. We'll gather March 7-8, 2026 at Cvent HQ in Tysons, VA. Bring your ideas, we'll bring the mentors, midnight snacks, and stage lights.