Kiro BuildFest 2026

Welcome to the Kiro BuildFest. It is open for university undergraduates (of the eligible Universities) to build anything they can imagine, powered by Kiro, the AI-driven development environment. Kiro goes beyond code generation, it helps you think through your idea by producing structured specs, design documents, and task lists before a single line of code is written, so you're always building the right thing from the start (Spec-Driven). You can also start with nothing more than a rough idea and let Kiro progressively shape it into well-structured, production-quality software—turning "vibes coding" into something you'd actually ship.

The theme is open-ended — if you can dream it, you can ship it. Bring your boldest ideas and let Kiro help you turn them into working solutions.

Requirements

What to Build

Refer to the Rules page to get the guide which explains each prize category and what the judges will be looking for. Use it to decide where your project fits and how to present your best work.

Teams

You can sign up as an individual or groups of up to 4.

What to Submit

Three things every entry needs:

Repository Link - Commit your .kiro/ folder to your repository. This is where your specs, steering, agents, and hooks live. Kiro tools may exclude it by default, so check it is included before you submit — it is the evidence judges use to assess how you used Kiro.
Include a short "How we used Kiro" note in your Devpost write-up: what challenge or opportunity you are targeting, how your solution solves it, which Kiro features you used, and how they shaped your build. This note can be a write up of maximum 400 words or 2 slides.
Provide a working demo — a live link or a short video (around two - three minutes) showing your project running end to end. Videos must be uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook Video and made public.

These ensure your project can be judged fairly. Entries missing them may not be eligible for the Kiro-specific categories.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

7 non-cash prizes

Best Overall - BuildFest Champion

1 winner

* Swag bag
* Certificate of Achievement
* Priority access to AWS Annual Career Bootcamp (held in early-Aug)
* AWS User Group SG Sponsored access to AWS Community Day (22-Aug-26)
* Winners be invited to a follow-up session with Amazon University Talent Acquisition Team to explore potential internship opportunities.

Best Spec-Driven Build

1 winner

Best Kiro Power-User

1 winner

Most Practical Solution

1 winner

Most Ambitious Build

1 winner

Most Creative Use of Kiro

1 winner

People's Choice

1 winner

Judges

Solutions Architecture Team
AWS Singapore

Judging Criteria

Overview
The judging criterias are based on the individual prize categories. Each prize categories details the aspects and considerations used for the judging. Please refer to the Rules page for the criterias.
Prize Categories
There are seven awards. Some recognise what you built and the impact it has; others recognise how effectively you used Kiro's capabilities. Together they reward both great products and great craft — so there are many ways to win.

Online	Invite only
7 non-cash prizes	7 participants