We're excited to kick off another DEV Weekend Challenge, a short bite-sized challenge planned to fit into your weekend. We know the submission window is tight, so we've set the timing to ensure that no matter where you are in the world, you'll have the majority of your Saturday and Sunday to participate.
We’ll select four overall winners and six prize category winners who utilize a specific technology as part of their challenge submission.
Let’s get to it!
Prize Categories
This challenge introduces something new: six prize categories for participants who incorporate a specific technology into their project. You don't need to use any of these tools to be eligible for our overall winner spots but if you're curious about any of the tech, this is a great excuse to give one a try.
- Best use of Backboard
- Best use of Auth0 for Agents
- Best use of Google Gemini
- Best use of Snowflake
- Best use of GitHub Copilot
- Best use of Solana
Pro Tip: since prize category winners are drawn from a smaller pool of submissions, your odds of taking home a prize are meaningfully higher.
Note: You may use multiple technologies in a single submission to qualify for multiple categories, but participants are limited to one win per challenge.
Judging Criteria
All submissions will be judged on the following:
- Relevance to Theme: Does the project clearly connect to the challenge theme?
- Creativity: Is the concept original or is it an interesting take on a familiar problem?
- Technical Execution: Is the project functional, well-built, and easy to use?
- Writing Quality: Is the submission post clearly written and engaging?
- Use of Prize Category Technology (optional): If pursuing a prize category, does the submission meaningfully incorporate the chosen technology?
Prizes
Ten winners will each take home:
- $100 USD
- DEV++ Membership
- Exclusive DEV badge
All participants with a valid submission will receive a completion badge.
Need Help?
Check out our official challenge page for resources to help you get started with tech from our prize category partners.
Important Dates
- Launch Time: April 17, 2026 2:00 AM UTC
- Submissions Due: April 20, 2026 6:59 AM UTC
Here's what that looks like across a few timezones:
| Timezone | Launch Time (Local) | Submissions Due (Local) |
|---|---|---|
| PDT | Thursday, Apr 16 at 7:00 PM | Sunday, Apr 19 at 11:59 PM |
| EDT | Thursday, Apr 16 at 10:00 PM | Monday, Apr 20 at 2:59 AM |
| GMT | Friday, Apr 17 at 2:00 AM | Monday, Apr 20 at 6:59 AM |
| CEST | Friday, Apr 17 at 4:00 AM | Monday, Apr 20 at 8:59 AM |
| IST | Friday, Apr 17 at 7:30 AM | Monday, Apr 20 at 12:29 PM |
| JST | Friday, Apr 17 at 11:00 AM | Monday, Apr 20 at 3:59 PM |
| AEST | Friday, Apr 17 at 12:00 PM | Monday, Apr 20 at 4:59 PM |
Winners will be Announced on Thursday, April 30.
Questions about the challenge? Drop them in the comments below.
Good luck!!
Top comments (39)
Ayyyy, Backboard.io Co-founder jumping in here, sign up through our Challenge page and use promo code DEVAPRIL for dev credits, and you can bring your Gemini API key along with ya!
It says "Invalid or inactive promo code" when I try using it.
Try again! I had a typo i went to quick!!!
Yep! It works now <3
@jon_at_backboardio Ahoy there! ⚓ Thanks for dropping by and providing such a strong "tailwind" for the DEV community with the DEVAPRIL code!
We actually leaned heavily on Gemini as our AI collaborator to build the Thương Hồ Protocol for this challenge. Seeing how Backboard.io orchestrates AI workflows, it feels like the perfect "dock" to manage our open-source AI agents in the future.
I’d be honored if you took a quick look at our Earth Day simulation, where we used $O(1)$ Verkle Trees to reduce blockchain CO2 emissions by 90+%. Would love to hear a founder's perspective on the intersection of AI orchestration and Green Tech! 🌊👇
Thương Hồ Protocol: Solving $O(1)$ State Bloat with Vietnamese Maritime Wisdom
Try again! I had a typo i went too quick!!!
Try again! I had a typo i went to quick!!!
Thanks for this
🌎🌍🌏
Good day, is it a must to have a teammate or one can go individually?
Check out the FAQs here: dev.to/challenges/weekend-2026-04-16
Just submitted my entry! 🌍 on reducing resource waste in large-scale environments.
Really loved how open-ended this challenge is — excited to see what others built!
Cool!
Question: for Google Gemini category, does one have to use Gemini API or any use of Gemini (e.g. Gemini CLI) would do?
We'll put priority on teams that use and implement the Google Gemini APIs. It's encouraged to use Gemini CLI, Antigravity, or AI Studio to help you build your app, but we're awarding the prize for the best implementation/use of the api itself.
Thanks! That answers it.
Use promo code DEVAPRIL for dev credits at backboard.io/hackathons and you can bring your Gemini API key along with ya!
Nice!
Great question I guess they'll need API cause of the partnership, but go through SDK would be something really great, anyway there's free plan with google API so...
Answered this above! But I'd also encourage you to check out mlh.link/gemini for more resources including how to snag $300 in free Google Cloud credits
Oops didn’t see thanks for the answer 🙂 will check that !
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This is awesome!!!
Good luck!
太棒了！！！
Can't wait to see what others make!
Hey @konark_13, you might be able to afford earth if you win this challenge lol
I was just about to tag @konark_13 and say this, but you beat me to it @francistrdev 😂
Thank you so much, @hadil. With this community support I can finally afford some grass and build something with it. 😆
@francistrdev is faster than the speed of light. He taught flash how to run.
That's a tempting offer for me. Need to make something useful for people on earth.
Need to think and act fast otherwise you will steal the lead and del....i mean optimize earth.😆
Na I actually gonna step this one out actually. Good luck to you though! I will be the judge to see if your product is worthy for you to buy earth. It better be something or else I am gonna dele-I mean sell earth to the highest bidder :)
I will try. I'm actually blank rn. hahaha.
You should give it a try too as you make amazing optimized solutions otherwise you have the final call for it. I was looking forward for your idea. Anyways, have a good time building something better.
A natural language to SQL + carbon analytics tool where users can ask:
“Which activities contribute most to my emissions this month?”
“How much CO₂ can I save, if I stop using my bike vs car?”
And the system:
Converts the question → SQL query
Runs it on your dataset
Returns insights + charts + AI explanation
@abdullah_shahid_300ab8a94 This is a brilliant concept, Abdullah! 🌍 Turning natural language into SQL for carbon analytics is exactly what we need to bridge the gap between complex data and daily human behavior. The "bike vs car" query is such a great, relatable use case.
It’s fascinating how we are tackling the same Earth Day goal from different angles. You're building the analytics layer for personal emissions, while my submission (Thương Hồ Protocol) focuses on the infrastructure layer—compressing blockchain proofs to 2KB to reduce the network's CO2 footprint by 90+%.
It would be amazing to use a tool like yours to query and visualize the energy saved by Web3 nodes! Dropped a ❤️. Best of luck in the challenge!
Thương Hồ Protocol: Solving $O(1)$ State Bloat with Vietnamese Maritime Wisdom
The Earth Day theme is a great touch — excited to see what the community builds this weekend! Good luck to all participants!
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