SB Hacks XII, UC Santa Barbara’s annual hackathon, brought together 342 students from across the country for a weekend of creativity, coding, and collaboration. Hosted at Corwin Pavilion, participants ranging from first-time coders to experienced developers, worked individually and in teams to build applications with real-world impact.

The 24-hour competition featured tracks in entertainment, health and wellness, and education, alongside sponsor-specific challenges. The prompts encouraged students to tackle industry-relevant problems using advanced tools and emerging technologies.

For Timothy Sherwood, a distinguished professor of computer science and dean of the College of Creative Studies at UCSB, SB Hacks continues to exemplify UCSB’s collaborative spirit.

“It is far more than a competition — it really is a community experience where participants learn from one another and leave inspired to pursue bold new things,” said Sherwood, a long-time supporter of the event and one of this year’s judges. 

Beyond technical ability, participants demonstrated creativity, teamwork, adaptability, and problem-solving, often working with unfamiliar application programming interfaces (APIs), tools that allow software systems to communicate and exchange data. 

Joshua Lee, a computer science student at UCSB, explored how developers move from concept to execution. Using the Deepgram API, he built an AI-powered voice assistant that helps programmers plan projects conversationally, generating real-time diagrams and system architectures.

“The result is more than a chatbot—it’s an interactive planning partner that listens, advises, and visually maps out project architecture in real time, translating ideas into structured and actionable blueprints,” said Lee, who entered the competition as an individual and as part of a team. 

Rahul Puritipati, a first-year computer science student at UCLA, developed a voice-controlled system that allows users to remotely access and operate a computer from their phone, an accessibility-focused enhancement of existing technology. 

“The key is iteration,” he said. “Novel ideas are rare. The real opportunity is identifying the industry’s pain points and improving solutions that already exist but fall short. That takes real-world experience — understanding what people actually struggle with — and building from there.” 

The event also marked the culmination of months of planning by a 35-member student leadership team, which coordinated logistics, sponsorships, and programming to ensure success. This year, organizers introduced a centralized digital system using QR codes on participant badges to streamline check-ins, meal coordination, and judging.

“We were able to consolidate information and improve efficiency across the board,” said logistics director Pranav Gunhal, a second-year computer science major at UCSB.

At the same time, organizers expanded outreach efforts to amplify the event’s visibility through targeted campaigns and real-time content. 

“We focused on staying consistent and meeting people where they were,” said Shreya Chati, a second-year computer science major. “Our goal was to make SB Hacks feel exciting and accessible, even if you weren’t in the room.”

A panel of thirteen judges evaluated participants, considering humor, communication, design, technical innovation, and user empathy. 

This year’s grand prize winners were UCSB undergraduates Quinn Godfredsen, Lee, and Nathan So. Their project, “Hey Host!” is an interactive podcast platform that enables users to engage with content in real time through an AI-powered voice agent. 

Click here to view the other award-winning teams from SB Hacks XII.