Prizes and awards

The university and early career professionals track is designed for participants who are ready to engage with real-world challenges at research grade. The prizes reflect that ambition – offering not just financial rewards, but career-defining opportunities that can open doors in academia, industry, and public policy.

Every team that reaches the Grand Final will receive either a podium award or a specialist award. No team goes home empty handed.

Champion team – Gold

The gold award recognises the team that produces the most outstanding research-grade solution – demonstrating scientific rigour, genuine cross-disciplinary integration, a credible pathway to real-world impact, and exceptional communication.

The champion team receives:

• HKD $15,000 cash award for the team – to be shared amongst team members however the team chooses

• Champion team trophy

• Gold medal for each team member

• Letter of recommendation from Imperial College London, signed by an academic judge at Imperial – a powerful and credible endorsement for postgraduate applications, scholarship applications, and professional profiles

• First place certificate for each team member

• A featured profile on Imperial College London's Global Hong Kong platform and regional social media channels – giving your team and your work genuine international visibility

Second place team – Silver

The silver award recognises exceptional research-grade work and an outstanding performance at the Grand Final.

The second place team receives:

• HKD $1,500 Amazon voucher for each team member

• Second place team trophy

• Silver medal for each team member

• Second place certificate for each team member

Third place team – Bronze

The bronze award recognises excellent work and a solution of real scientific quality and ambition.

The third place team receives:

• HKD $1,000 Amazon voucher for each team member

• Third place team trophy

• Bronze medal for each team member

• Third place certificate for each team member

Specialist awards

Four specialist awards celebrate excellence in specific dimensions of the competition. These awards are open to all seven Grand Final teams and are presented to teams not placed in the top three – ensuring that every team that reaches the Grand Final is recognised for the quality and ambition of their work.

Best translational research award

Awarded to the team that demonstrates the most credible, rigorous, and well-evidenced pathway from research to real-world impact – showing not just that their solution works in theory, but how it could realistically be implemented and scaled.

Best innovation award

Awarded to the team that brings the most original, creative, and inventive thinking to their chosen challenge – demonstrating that research-grade rigour and genuine creative ambition are not in conflict, but are most powerful when they work together.

Greatest social impact award

Awarded to the team whose solution has the greatest potential to make a meaningful and lasting difference to communities in Hong Kong or Macau. The most important science is science that serves people – this award recognises that commitment.

Best STEMB integration award

Awarded to the team that most effectively and genuinely integrates science, technology, engineering, medicine, and business across their solution – demonstrating that the most complex real-world problems cannot be solved by any single discipline alone.

Best sustainability award

Awarded to the team that produces the strongest solution to a green or environmental challenge, combining scientific rigour, technical credibility, and a genuine commitment to a more sustainable Greater Bay Area.

All Grand Final participants

Every team member who competes at the Grand Final receives:

• An Imperial Hackathon Grand Finalist certificate of achievement – recognising your selection from all entries to present at the Grand Final at Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation

• An official Imperial Hackathon T-shirt