Silicon Circle Presents

The Ultimate Teen Innovation Hackathon

Join Chennai's first city-wide hackathon designed for Grade 8 to Grade 12 innovators. Design, pitch, or prototype STEM solutions to local and global challenges.

Register Team Explore Themes

01 / About HelixHack

What is HelixHack?

HelixHack is a structured, mentored, and genuinely rigorous competition designed specifically for school-age innovators. Held in Chennai, it challenges teams to develop projects within Pitch-Only (ideation-focused) or Prototype (working software/hardware) categories.

Silicon Circle is a teen-led community. We believe students do not need to wait until they graduate before making meaningful contributions to real-world problems. This hackathon is the platform we wish had existed when we started.

Event Format Qualifying + Offline Finale
Location Chennai, India
Eligibility Grades 8 to 12
Team Size 2 to 5 Members

02 / Core Focus Areas

Hackathon Themes

All projects must address a problem in one of these four broad domains.

🤖

AI & Emerging Tech

Projects exploring AI, machine learning, computer vision, or robotics to automate and solve practical, real-world issues.

E.g. Tamil language AI assistants, automated sorting.
🌱

Sustainability & Climate

Environmental preservation, renewable energy, climate resilience, conservation, or waste optimization systems.

E.g. Rainwater monitoring, carbon tracking.
🧠

Wellbeing & EdTech

Tackling student mental health challenges, emotional wellbeing, stress support systems, and learning platform innovations.

E.g. Peer-support forums, study schedulers.
♿

Accessibility & Inclusion

Removing learning, economic, linguistic, and physical barriers to ensure full societal participation for everyone.

E.g. Assistive devices, sign translators.

03 / Major Milestones

Event Timeline

Key dates for registration, qualifiers, and the offline finale demo day.

Sep 22, 2026
Registrations Open
Registration opens online for all Grade 8-12 teams in Chennai. No entry fees for online qualifiers.
Sep 23, 2026
Mandatory Info Session
A live Google Meet walking through the rules, categories, Discord server onboarding, and logs.
Sep 25, 2026
Registrations Close
Final deadline to register. Following closing, the round schedule is distributed to all teams.
Sep 26 - 28, 2026
Round 1 Qualifying
Asynchronous written submissions (Path B) or GMeet pitch presentation to industry judges (Path A).
Sep 29 - Oct 17, 2026
The Build Period
Finalist teams refine their ideas or code their applications, uploading daily progress logs to Discord.
Oct 18, 2026
Finale Demo Day
A school-holiday exhibition day in Chennai. Stall-based format, Q&A rounds, and prize distributions.

04 / Rewards

Prizes & Categories

Earn awards, cash prizes, certificates, and long-term industry connections.

🏆

1st Place

Top honors, cash prize, winner trophy, certificate, joint recognition letter, and direct **structured incubation access / industry mentorship**.

🥈

2nd Place

Runner-up cash rewards, trophy, certificates of placement, and a joint letter of recognition useful for portfolios.

🥉

3rd Place

Third place cash awards, placement trophy, and certificates of accomplishment.

Special Awards

  • 🌟 People's Choice: Determined by social media engagement.
  • ⚡ Best STEM Implementation: Most mathematically or scientifically rigorous design.
  • 🎪 Best Stall Award: Creative visual display and stall defense.

School Cup & Fellows

  • 🏫 The School Cup: Awarded to the school scoring highest across all registered teams.
  • 🤝 Silicon Circle Fellows: Recognition, mentorship, and community membership for promising non-finalists.
  • 📜 Participation: Every registered participant receives a certificate.

05 / Support

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about the registration, evaluation, and policies.

Students currently enrolled in Grade 8 through Grade 12 in Chennai schools. Independent teens not enrolled in a school are also eligible to register. All teams must have 2 to 5 members.
AI tools (Copilot, Cursor, ChatGPT, etc.) are allowed for coding, refactoring, asset building, and research. However, AI is NOT permitted to write your core innovation or problem statements. Additionally, every team member must be able to thoroughly explain all code and design decisions during judging.
Judging is worth 100 points: Innovation & Originality (25), STEM Integration (20), Feasibility (20), Impact (15), Execution Quality (10), and Presentation (10) + a 5-point bonus for consistent daily Discord logging.
Registration and Round 1 qualifying are completely free. If your team advances to the offline finale, a registration fee is required to cover venue entry, lunch, and amenities.