HackIndia and Cloudinary Join Forces for India's First AI Media Hackathon
HackIndia, India's largest hackathon series, is proud to announce a landmark partnership with Cloudinary, the world's leading media experience platform trusted by over 1.5 million developers and companies including Reddit, Peloton, and NBC.
This is Cloudinary's first-ever hackathon activation in India, and it marks a significant moment for India's developer community — bringing one of the most powerful AI media platforms in the world directly into the hands of Indian builders for the first time.
About the Hackathon
Pixels to Products — Cloudinary AI Hackathon 2026 is a fully virtual hackathon open to developers, designers, and builders across India. Participants will use Cloudinary's full AI toolkit to build real, production-ready media products across three challenge tracks.
Registration opens now. The build period begins September 15, 2026 and submissions close October 4, 2026. Winners will be announced on October 10, 2026.
There is no credit card required to get started. Cloudinary's generous free tier gives every participant immediate access to the full platform.
The Prize Pool
The hackathon carries a total prize pool of up to ₹1,40,000, distributed as Amazon.in gift cards.
🥇 1st Place: ₹30,000 per teammate for teams of up to 4 members — maximum ₹1,20,000 for the winning team
🥈 Runner Up: ₹20,000 total, divided among team members
The Three Challenge Tracks
Track 1 — AI Media Pipelines
Build a workflow that automatically ingests, transforms, and optimizes images, video, or audio using Cloudinary's AI Skills Pack. Capabilities include auto-tagging, background removal, content-aware cropping, and moderation.
Track 2 — Generative Content Workflows
Use Cloudinary's AI image generation workflow, including variations and model choice, inside an existing Cloudinary pipeline. Example applications include product photography variants, marketing asset generation, and avatar or character tools.
Track 3 — Your Media-Savvy Startup
An open founder-minded track for builders creating marketplaces, social apps, ed-tech products, creator tools, or any product where media management, delivery, and performance are central to the experience.
About Cloudinary
Cloudinary is the world's leading media experience platform. It enables developers and businesses to manage, transform, optimize, and deliver images, video, and audio at scale. Used by over 1.5 million developers and 10,000+ companies worldwide, Cloudinary has previously run successful hackathon activations at Hack Canada, LA Hacks at UCLA, and other global events.
About HackIndia
HackIndia is India's largest hackathon series, operated under CSharp Technologies Inc., a Delaware Corporation. With 50,000+ active student developers, 250+ partner universities, and 52+ cities across India, HackIndia connects India's best builders with the world's most innovative technology companies through year-round virtual and in-person hackathons.
Register Now
Registrations are open from August 24, 2026. Teams of 1 to 4 members. All experience levels welcome. Fully virtual.
👉 Register here: hackindia.org/hackathons