Inside Eleven Labs Hackathons: Unleashing AI Innovation Through Collaborative Coding

Last updated: May 31, 2026

Quick Answer

ElevenLabs hackathons are structured coding events where participants build AI-powered applications, primarily using ElevenLabs’ voice and audio APIs, within compressed time windows ranging from three hours to several weeks. The company runs multiple formats: a worldwide in-person hackathon across 33+ cities, a weekly online series called ElevenHacks with over $240,000 in total prizes, and partner-hosted events through platforms like Lablab.ai [1][2][6]. These events are open to developers of all skill levels, including non-coders who use no-code tools, and they’ve produced working prototypes like multilingual visa assistants and AI-powered games in remarkably short timeframes.

Key Takeaways

• ElevenHacks Season 1 features 11 weekly hackathons with a combined prize pool exceeding $240,000 in cash and credits [2]
• The worldwide hackathon spanned 33 cities simultaneously, with teams building functional prototypes in just three hours [1]
• No prior coding experience is required for many events; no-code tools like Replit and bolt.new are commonly used [1][2]
• Remote participation is supported through online hackathon formats and partner-hosted virtual events [6]
• Weekly challenges pair ElevenLabs APIs with specific partner tools (Firecrawl, Zed, Replit, Cloudflare, Cursor) [2]
• Participants accumulate points across hackathons and social media activity, competing for a season champion title [2]
• Venture capital firms like Balderton Capital use these events as founder-discovery pipelines
• Pre-event collaboration spaces (via Miro) let teams brainstorm before the build window starts, maximizing coding time [1]

What Exactly Happens at an ElevenLabs Hackathon?

At an ElevenLabs hackathon, participants receive a challenge brief, form or join teams, and build a working AI application within a fixed time window using ElevenLabs’ Speech Engine and designated partner APIs.

The format varies by event type, but the core structure follows this pattern:

1. Pre-event phase: Teams access collaborative workspaces (often Miro boards) to brainstorm ideas and map user flows before the clock starts [1]
2. Challenge brief release: Each hackathon has a specific prompt, such as “Build something unique and unusual with both Firecrawl Search and ElevenAgents” or “Build and ship a voice-powered app using Replit and ElevenLabs Voice Design” [2]
3. Build sprint: Teams code, test, break things, and rebuild within the time window
4. Demo and judging: Teams present their prototypes to judges who evaluate creativity, technical execution, and practical utility

Imogen Mulliner, ElevenLabs’ Growth Lead and head of their global hackathon program, has explained that the pre-event Miro workspaces are intentional: they let participants “spend more of the live window on building rather than ideation” [1]. This async-planning-plus-sync-building model is a deliberate design choice that separates ElevenLabs events from more chaotic hackathon formats.

For the worldwide hackathon held in December 2025, the build window was just three hours. That constraint forced teams to ship fast. One Amsterdam team built “Anna,” a multilingual virtual assistant helping foreigners navigate visa and residency processes, using ElevenLabs for conversational interaction, Anam for avatars, and bolt.new for deployment [1]. A project that would traditionally take months was prototyped in an afternoon.

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How Do I Qualify to Participate in Their AI Hackathons?

Most ElevenLabs hackathons are open to anyone who registers. There’s no formal qualification process, coding test, or portfolio review required for the majority of their events.

Here’s what you typically need:

• A free ElevenLabs account to access their APIs
• Registration through the specific event platform (hacks.elevenlabs.io for ElevenHacks, Devpost for worldwide events, or Lablab.ai for partner-hosted hackathons) [1][2][3]
• A willingness to build something within the time constraints

For the ElevenHacks weekly series, registration is ongoing throughout Season 1. You can join individual weekly challenges without committing to the entire season, though participating in multiple weeks earns you points toward the season championship [2].

Partner-hosted events through Lablab.ai may have their own registration processes, but these are generally also open-enrollment [6].

One thing to note: In-person worldwide hackathon spots in specific cities may be capacity-limited. If you’re targeting a particular city chapter, register early.

Are ElevenLabs Hackathons Only for Experienced Developers?

No. ElevenLabs hackathons are explicitly designed to include non-technical participants. The Miro case study of the worldwide hackathon describes the events as “practical training in high-speed shipping for both technical and non-technical participants” [1].

Several factors make these events accessible to beginners:

• No-code tools are encouraged: Challenge briefs often specify tools like Replit, bolt.new, and Cursor that lower the technical barrier [2]
• Team formation is flexible: You can join a team that needs designers, project managers, or domain experts rather than coders
• Pre-built APIs handle the hard parts: ElevenLabs’ voice synthesis, voice cloning, and conversational AI APIs abstract away complex machine learning, so you’re integrating rather than building from scratch
• Collaborative pre-event planning through shared workspaces means even non-technical members contribute meaningfully to ideation and user-flow mapping [1]

That said, having at least basic familiarity with APIs or no-code platforms will help you contribute more during the build sprint.

What Skills Do I Need to Be Competitive in Their AI Coding Events?

To be competitive (not just participate), you’ll want a mix of technical fluency, design thinking, and presentation skills. The winning teams tend to combine all three.

Common mistake: Teams that try to build the most technically complex project often lose to teams that build something simple but clearly useful. The “Anna” visa assistant won attention not because of sophisticated engineering but because it solved an obvious pain point with a clean user experience [1].

How Long Do ElevenLabs Hackathons Typically Last?

It depends on the format. ElevenLabs runs three distinct hackathon types with different timeframes:

• Worldwide hackathon (in-person): Three-hour build window, held simultaneously across 33+ cities [1]
• ElevenHacks weekly challenges (online): Typically one week per challenge, with 11 challenges in Season 1 [2]
• Partner-hosted events (online): Can run from a single weekend to several weeks; one Lablab.ai series ran from February 4 to March 1, 2026 [6]

The three-hour format is the most distinctive. As Miro’s case study put it, the compressed window forces teams to “build, test, break things, and rebuild” without over-planning [1]. There’s no time for scope creep.

Choose your format based on your availability: If you can only commit a few hours, target the worldwide hackathon or a single ElevenHacks week. If you want a deeper build experience, the partner-hosted multi-week events give more room to iterate.

Can Remote Developers Participate in Their Hackathons?

Yes. The ElevenHacks weekly series and partner-hosted events on Lablab.ai are fully remote [2][6]. You can participate from anywhere with an internet connection.

The worldwide hackathon is the exception: it’s designed as an in-person experience across specific cities [1]. However, ElevenLabs’ growing Ambassador Program is expanding the geographic reach of in-person events by empowering local community leaders to organize regional hackathons and meetups [10]. If there’s no city chapter near you in 2026, that may change as the ambassador network grows.

For remote participants, collaborative design tools like Figma and shared Miro boards become essential for team coordination during virtual build sprints.

What Kind of Projects Have Won in Past ElevenLabs Hackathons?

Winning projects typically combine ElevenLabs’ voice AI capabilities with a clear, specific use case that judges can immediately understand. Past winners and standout projects include:

• “Anna”: A multilingual virtual assistant that helps foreigners navigate visa and residency processes, built in under three hours at the Amsterdam worldwide hackathon [1]
• Voice-powered games: Built using Zed and ElevenLabs APIs as part of ElevenHacks challenges [2]
• Conversational AI agents: Various projects from the Online Conversational Agent Hackathon focused on building interactive voice-driven applications [8]
• Storytelling and accessibility tools: The 2023 Voice AI Hackathon (hosted on Lablab.ai) attracted over 2,660 participants and produced diverse applications focused on creative storytelling and accessibility

The pattern is clear: judges reward projects that demonstrate a real-world application of voice AI, not just technical sophistication. If you’re building something that helps a specific group of people do something they currently struggle with, you’re on the right track.

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What Kind of AI Technologies Do They Focus On?

ElevenLabs hackathons center on voice and audio AI, but the technology stack extends well beyond that through strategic partner integrations.

Core ElevenLabs technologies featured in hackathons:

• Text-to-speech synthesis (the company’s flagship product)
• Voice cloning and Voice Design
• ElevenAgents (conversational AI framework)
• Speech Engine API for real-time voice interactions

Partner technologies that appear in challenge briefs include Firecrawl (web search), Zed (code editor), Replit (cloud IDE), Cloudflare (deployment), Cursor (AI code editor), Miro (visual collaboration), and Anam (avatar generation) [1][2]. Each weekly ElevenHacks challenge pairs ElevenLabs APIs with a specific partner tool, so participants learn a new integration each week.

This deliberate pairing strategy embeds ElevenLabs into popular developer workflows. If you’re exploring how AI integrates with existing tools, our guide to AI plugins for WordPress covers similar integration patterns in the web development space.

What Prizes or Opportunities Do Winners Usually Receive?

ElevenHacks Season 1 offers a total prize pool exceeding $240,000 in cash and ElevenLabs API credits [2]. Individual weekly hackathons distribute portions of this pool, and participants who accumulate the most points across the season compete for a grand prize (details still TBA as of mid-2026) [2].

Beyond direct prizes, winners gain:

• Visibility with venture capital firms: Balderton Capital, an ElevenLabs investor, actively uses hackathons as founder-discovery pipelines
• Community recognition: Winning projects are featured on ElevenLabs’ blog and social channels [5]
• API credits: Extended access to ElevenLabs’ paid API tiers for continued development
• Networking: Direct interaction with ElevenLabs team members and partner company representatives

The worldwide hackathon has offered over $200,000 in total prizes across all city chapters [3][4].

How Do ElevenLabs Hackathons Differ from Other Tech Coding Competitions?

Three things set ElevenLabs hackathons apart from standard tech hackathons:

1. Compressed build windows with pre-event planning. Most hackathons give you 24-48 hours. ElevenLabs’ worldwide format gives you three hours but provides collaborative planning spaces beforehand [1]. This forces a fundamentally different approach to product development.

2. Weekly serialized format. ElevenHacks’ 11-week season structure with cumulative points is unusual. Most hackathons are one-off events. The season format rewards consistent participation and lets you improve week over week [2].

3. Voice-first focus. While most AI hackathons are LLM-focused (build a chatbot, build a RAG pipeline), ElevenLabs events center on voice and audio AI. This narrows the solution space in a way that often produces more creative, differentiated projects.

Miro’s analysis frames the ElevenLabs model as “a blueprint for product teams”: equip people with automation and visual tools, create focused time without interruptions, and support experimentation with permission to fail [1].

What Are Common Mistakes First-Time Hackathon Participants Make?

First-timers consistently make the same handful of errors. Avoiding these will put you ahead of most teams:

• Over-scoping: Trying to build a full product instead of a focused prototype. In a three-hour window, build one feature that works perfectly rather than five features that half-work.
• Skipping the pre-event planning phase: Teams that don’t use the collaborative workspaces waste precious build time on ideation [1]
• Ignoring the demo: Judges can’t evaluate what they can’t understand. Spend the last 20-30 minutes preparing a clear, concise presentation.
• Going solo when teams are available: Hackathons reward diverse skill sets. A team with a coder, a designer, and a domain expert will almost always beat a solo developer.
• Not reading the challenge brief carefully: Each ElevenHacks week requires specific partner tools. Building something that doesn’t use the required APIs means automatic disqualification [2].
• Perfectionism: Ship something rough. The “Anna” team didn’t build a polished product; they built a working prototype that demonstrated a clear idea [1].

If you’re new to collaborative design workflows, practicing with tools like Figma’s component systems before the event can help you move faster during the build sprint.

How Much Does It Cost to Join an ElevenLabs Hackathon?

ElevenLabs hackathons are free to join. There is no registration fee for ElevenHacks, the worldwide hackathon, or partner-hosted events on Lablab.ai [2][3][6]. ElevenLabs provides free API credits for participants during the event period.

Your only costs are:

• Travel and accommodation if you attend an in-person worldwide hackathon event
• Your time (three hours to several weeks depending on format)
• Optional paid API tiers if you want to continue developing your project after the event ends

Are There Age Restrictions for ElevenLabs Hackathons?

ElevenLabs has not publicly stated a minimum age requirement for their online hackathon events. However, standard platform terms of service for tools like Devpost and Lablab.ai typically require participants to be at least 13 or 18 years old depending on jurisdiction [3][6]. If you’re under 18, check the specific event’s terms and conditions before registering.

For in-person worldwide hackathon events, venue-specific rules may apply. Some city chapters hosted at bars or co-working spaces may have their own age policies.

Conclusion

ElevenLabs has built one of the most distinctive hackathon ecosystems in AI, combining compressed build sprints, serialized weekly challenges, and a global in-person network that’s expanding through their Ambassador Program. Whether you’re an experienced developer or someone who’s never written a line of code, there’s a format that fits.

Your next steps:

1. Register at hacks.elevenlabs.io to join the current ElevenHacks season [1]
2. Create a free ElevenLabs account and experiment with their APIs before your first event
3. Join a pre-event workspace early to brainstorm with potential teammates
4. Start small: Pick one weekly challenge rather than committing to the full season
5. Focus on solving a real problem for a specific group of people, not on building the most complex technical solution

The barrier to entry is essentially zero. The only thing standing between you and a working AI prototype is three hours and a willingness to ship something imperfect. For more on building with AI tools, explore our AI and automation resources.

FAQ

Q: Do I need to know Python or JavaScript to participate? A: No. Many participants use no-code tools like Replit and bolt.new. Basic API familiarity helps but isn’t required [2].

Q: Can I participate in ElevenHacks if I missed the first few weeks? A: Yes. You can join individual weekly challenges at any point during the season, though you’ll have fewer points toward the season championship [2].

Q: Do I need a team, or can I participate solo? A: Both options are available. Solo participation is allowed, but teams of 2-4 tend to perform better because they cover more skill areas.

Q: What happens to my project after the hackathon? A: You own your project. Many participants continue developing their prototypes into full products after the event ends.

Q: Is the worldwide hackathon happening again in 2026? A: ElevenLabs continues to invest in large in-person hackathon activations in 2026, with local AI communities using the worldwide hackathon brand to anchor regional events [10].

Q: How are hackathon submissions judged? A: Judging criteria typically include creativity, technical execution, practical utility, and quality of the demo presentation [1][5].

Q: Can I use pre-existing code or projects? A: Check the specific event rules, but generally hackathons require new work created during the event window. Pre-event planning and ideation are encouraged; pre-built code usually isn’t [1].

Q: What’s the difference between ElevenHacks and the worldwide hackathon? A: ElevenHacks is an online weekly series with 11 challenges over a season. The worldwide hackathon is a single in-person event held simultaneously across 33+ cities with a three-hour build window [1][2].

Q: Do I get free API access during the hackathon? A: Yes. ElevenLabs provides API credits to registered participants for the duration of the event.

Q: How do I find teammates if I don’t know anyone? A: Most events have team-formation channels on Discord or within the event platform. Pre-event Miro workspaces also serve as natural networking spaces [1].

References

[1] hacks.elevenlabs – https://hacks.elevenlabs.io [2] hackathon.elevenlabs – https://hackathon.elevenlabs.io [3] elevenlabs-worldwide-hackathon.devpost – https://elevenlabs-worldwide-hackathon.devpost.com [4] The ElevenLabs Worldwide Hackathon (LinkedIn) – https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elevenlabsio_the-elevenlabs-worldwide-hackathon-brought-activity-7406984068745080832-qzdx [5] Announcing The Winners Of The ElevenLabs Worldwide Hackathon – https://elevenlabs.io/blog/announcing-the-winners-of-the-elevenlabs-worldwide-hackathon [6] AI Hackathon – https://elevenlabs.io/blog/ai-hackathon [8] Online Conversational Agent Hackathon – https://elevenlabs.io/blog/online-conversational-agent-hackathon [10] ElevenLabs Ambassador Program – https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX_79RaBOXF/