Model Mayhem USA 2026

About

Model Mayhem USA 2026 is a two-round, leaderboard-driven machine learning showdown. Train, upload, climb. No slides, no pitches: your score does the talking.

$3,000 in cash prizes for the top 15 teams. Round 1 is a free 24-hour sprint. The top 100 teams get a brand-new, harder dataset in a 48-hour final.

How it works

1. Register free as a team of 2 to 4, from 1 Nov until Saturday 28 Nov, 11:59 PM ET.
2. Round 1: 24-hour sprint, Sunday 29 Nov, 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM ET. Dataset drops at midnight. Up to 5 uploads.
3. Top 100 announced on Saturday 5 Dec, from the hidden private ranking.
4. Confirm your spot with the $30 Round 2 entry per team by Thursday 10 Dec, 11:59 PM ET.
5. Round 2: 48-hour final, Saturday 12 Dec 12:00 AM to Sunday 13 Dec 11:59 PM ET. New dataset, up to 10 uploads a day, code submission.
6. Code verification and top 15 announced on Wednesday 16 Dec.

Prizes (top 15)

• 1st place: $1,000
• 2nd place: $500
• 3rd place: $300
• 4th place: $150
• 5th place: $150
• 6th place: $90
• 7th place: $90
• 8th place: $90
• 9th place: $90
• 10th place: $90
• 11th place: $90
• 12th place: $90
• 13th place: $90
• 14th place: $90
• 15th place: $90
• Top 100: finalist certificates

Scoring

• The live leaderboard updates every 15 minutes on a public part of the test set.
• The final ranking uses the hidden private part. Models that generalise win; overfitting the leaderboard does not.

Who can participate

• Based in the United States (every team member)
• Students, recent graduates and working professionals
• Teams of 2 to 4 members
• Free to enter; $30 per team only if you make the top 100

Prizes

• 1st place — $1,000
• 2nd place — $500
• 3rd place — $300
• 4th place — $150
• 5th place — $150
• 6th place — $90
• 7th place — $90
• 8th place — $90
• 9th place — $90
• 10th place — $90
• 11th place — $90
• 12th place — $90
• 13th place — $90
• 14th place — $90
• 15th place — $90
• Top 100 finalists: Finalist certificate

Perks

• Round 1 is free for every team
• Cash prizes for the top 15 teams
• Certificate of achievement for the top 15, finalist certificate for the top 100
• Certificate for every team that uploads a scored submission

Timeline

1. Registration (free) (Nov 1, 2026 – Nov 28, 2026): Register free as a team of 2 to 4 members, all through November. Registration closes on Saturday 28 Nov, 11:59 PM ET.
2. Round 1: 24-hour sprint (free) (Nov 29, 2026 – Nov 29, 2026): Sunday 29 Nov, 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM ET. The dataset and problem statement drop at midnight in your team workspace. Upload predictions from the Leaderboard tab, up to 5 times.
3. Top 100 announced (Dec 5, 2026 – Dec 5, 2026): The top 100 teams on the final (private) Round 1 ranking go through, announced on Saturday 5 Dec.
4. Confirm your Round 2 spot ($30 per team) (Dec 5, 2026 – Dec 10, 2026): Top 100 teams confirm their place with the $30 Round 2 entry (per team, not per person) by Thursday 10 Dec, 11:59 PM ET. Unconfirmed spots go to the next teams on the leaderboard.
5. Round 2: 48-hour final (Dec 12, 2026 – Dec 13, 2026): Saturday 12 Dec, 12:00 AM to Sunday 13 Dec, 11:59 PM ET. A new, harder dataset for the top 100 only. Up to 10 uploads a day. Submit your code before the round closes.
6. Code verification and results (Dec 14, 2026 – Dec 16, 2026): The top teams' code is checked to make sure it reproduces their best upload. The top 15 are announced on Wednesday 16 Dec at 12:00 PM ET.

Rules

1. Open only to participants based in the United States: every team member must live in the USA. Winners confirm their US residency (with a W-9) before prizes are paid.
2. Take part in a team of 2 to 4 members. Each person can be in only one team, with one account.
3. Round 1 is free. Only the top 100 teams pay the $30 Round 2 entry (per team), and only if they choose to take their spot.
4. Round 1 is a 24-hour sprint on Sunday 29 Nov. Round 2 is a 48-hour final on 12 and 13 Dec. All times are US Eastern.
5. Train only on the data provided. Open-source libraries and public pretrained weights are allowed; outside labelled data for the same task and hand-labelling the test set are not.
6. Upload predictions in the format given with the problem statement. Files that fail validation do not use up an upload.
7. The live leaderboard uses a public part of the test set. The final ranking of each round uses the hidden private part, based on each team's best public upload.
8. Round 2 teams submit their code (GitHub repo or notebook) before the round closes. Prize winners must be able to reproduce their best upload from it.
9. Sharing code, predictions or labels between teams leads to disqualification.
10. Prizes are paid in USD by bank transfer or PayPal within 30 days of the results. Winners provide a W-9 to receive their prize.
11. The organizers' decisions on verification and results are final.

Model Mayhem USA 2026: quick answers

What is Model Mayhem USA 2026?

Model Mayhem USA 2026 is an online machine learning competition, organized by Hack4Hack. A Kaggle-style machine learning competition for students and professionals based in the USA: a free 24-hour leaderboard sprint on Sunday 29 Nov, then a 48-hour final with a harder dataset for the top 100. No slides, no pitch: your score decides.

When is Model Mayhem USA 2026?

Model Mayhem USA 2026 runs from Nov 29, 2026 to Dec 16, 2026, online. Registration is open until Nov 28, 2026. Stages: Registration (free) (Nov 1, 2026); Round 1: 24-hour sprint (free) (Nov 29, 2026); Top 100 announced (Dec 5, 2026); Confirm your Round 2 spot ($30 per team) (Dec 5, 2026); Round 2: 48-hour final (Dec 12, 2026); Code verification and results (Dec 14, 2026). All times are US Eastern (ET).

What is the last date to register for Model Mayhem USA 2026?

Registration for Model Mayhem USA 2026 closes on Nov 28, 2026 (11:59 PM ET). Register on Hack4Hack before then; teammates can join with your team code.

What is the prize money at Model Mayhem USA 2026?

Model Mayhem USA 2026 has $3,000 in prizes. 1st place: $1,000, 2nd place: $500, 3rd place: $300, 4th place: $150, 5th place: $150. $3,000 cash for the top 15 + finalist certificates for the top 100.

Is Model Mayhem USA 2026 free?

Yes, registering for Model Mayhem USA 2026 is free.

Who can participate in Model Mayhem USA 2026?

College students, working professionals and freshers based in the USA can take part, in teams of 2 to 4. It is fully online, so you can join from anywhere in the USA.

Can I join Model Mayhem USA 2026 from outside the USA?

No. Model Mayhem USA 2026 is open only to participants based in the USA: every team member must live there. Registration checks your profile country and where you connect from, and winners confirm their residency before prizes are paid.

Is Model Mayhem USA 2026 like a Kaggle competition?

Yes, in format: one dataset, a live public leaderboard and a final ranking on a hidden private test set. The differences: it runs in short rounds (a 24-hour sprint, then a 48-hour final), it is open only to people based in the USA, and the top 15 teams win cash.

Is Model Mayhem on Thanksgiving weekend?

Round 1 is on Sunday 29 Nov 2026, the Sunday after Thanksgiving: a 24-hour sprint from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM ET. The dataset drops at midnight in your team workspace. Register free by Saturday 28 Nov, 11:59 PM ET.

Can beginners join a machine learning competition like Model Mayhem?

Yes. You do not need a GPU: free Google Colab or Kaggle notebooks are enough. Start with a simple baseline, upload early and improve it. Teams of 2 to 4 can mix beginners with experienced data scientists.

How do I win a machine learning competition?

Validate on your own hold-out split and trust it more than the public leaderboard: Model Mayhem ranks the final on a hidden private test set from each team's best public upload, so models that generalise win and leaderboard overfitting does not. Keep your code reproducible: prize winners must reproduce their best upload.

What does it cost to reach the Model Mayhem final?

Round 1 is free. If your team makes the top 100, you can confirm your final spot with a $30 entry per team (not per person) by Thursday 10 Dec, 11:59 PM ET.

Is a data science competition good for my resume?

A ranked result on a real dataset, with reproducible code on GitHub, is concrete proof of machine learning skill for internships and data science jobs. Every team that uploads a scored submission gets a certificate; the top 100 and top 15 get finalist and achievement certificates.

What is the difference between Model Mayhem and AgentRush?

Both are online Hack4Hack events for people based in the USA. Model Mayhem USA 2026 is a machine learning competition ranked on a live leaderboard, with $3,000 in prizes. AgentRush USA 2026 is an AI agent hackathon judged on the agent you build, with $5,000 in prizes. You can join both.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free?

Round 1 is completely free. Only the top 100 teams pay a $30 entry per team for Round 2, and only if they take their spot.

Who can join?

Students, recent graduates and working professionals based in the United States. Every team member must live in the USA: registration checks your profile country and where you connect from, and winners confirm US residency before prizes are paid.

When are the rounds?

Round 1: a 24-hour sprint on Sunday 29 Nov (12 AM to 11:59 PM ET). Round 2 (top 100 only): a 48-hour final from Saturday 12 Dec, 12 AM to Sunday 13 Dec, 11:59 PM ET.

Who wins prizes?

The top 15 teams: $1,000, $500 and $300 for the top 3, $150 each for 4th and 5th, and $90 each for 6th to 15th.

Can I take part alone?

No. Teams have 2 to 4 members, all based in the USA. No team yet? Register, then invite friends with your team code or find teammates in the Find a team tab.

How is it scored?

The metric is announced with each problem statement. The live leaderboard uses a public part of the test set; the final ranking uses the hidden private part.

Do I need a GPU?

No. Free tiers such as Google Colab or Kaggle notebooks are enough.

How are prizes paid?

In USD by bank transfer or PayPal within 30 days of the results.