The most useful thing about a hackathon is that it shrinks the distance between “wouldn’t it be nice if” and “here, try this.” Alkami’s 2026 event did exactly that.
Alkami Technology, Inc. has announced the winners of its annual Hackathon. The two-day event brings customers, partners, and Alkami employees (known internally as Alkamists) together to build new solutions inside the Alkami Platform.
This year’s theme was “Build Your Own Banking.” The challenge: create hyper-personalized experiences that bring relationship banking into the digital channel. Teams had to rethink how a financial institution could use the platform to offer something distinctive. Judges scored projects on technical excellence, customer impact, creativity, collaboration, and potential to move digital banking forward. Teams used artificial intelligence (AI) to test ideas and turn early concepts into working solutions, then pitched the results live to the judges in three minutes flat.
Sundar Siva, Alkami’s vice president of software engineering, said AI gave teams another way to explore and sharpen their ideas, but the people mattered more. “Hackathon is a place where ambitious thinking becomes shared momentum, and where people from different backgrounds can come together to make something real,” he said. “That spirit defined this year’s event.”
Four awards stood out. The Fusion Award, which goes to the team with the most diverse collaboration, went to “Card Compass.” Its AI-powered tool walks users through tricky card integrations by quickly showing which features, platforms, and integration paths are supported across different technology combinations.
The Customer Delight Award recognizes seamless, intuitive design that makes using a product a pleasure. It went to “Insight Engine,” which uses personalized account holder insights to gauge someone’s financial health and spot chances to offer more relevant guidance. Recommendations range from potential loan relief to smart investment opportunities.
The Fan Favorite Award, decided by live audience or participant vote, went to “Magnet: More Needles, Less Haystack.” This team built a faster way for engineering and support staff to find the data they need when investigating issues. It securely captures third-party communications and key system actions in one place.
Finally, the TechFin Award honors the project that best reflects the “Building Beyond Limits” theme and the TechFin pillars: reliability, quality, efficiency, performance, and scalability. “Integration Hub” won it by giving financial institutions, partners, and Alkami teams a single place to see and manage integrations, settings, and enablement.
Liam Petraska, digital banking manager at NASA Federal Credit Union, was part of that winning team. “Integrations can feel like a maze, so we focused on creating a simpler experience that helps teams understand what is connected and keep their work moving,” he said. Working alongside Alkami’s team offered a fresh angle on the problem, he added, and gave him ideas to take back to NASA Federal Credit Union while strengthening the partnership.
For anyone working with a digital banking platform, whether at a financial institution or a partner, the lesson is practical. The projects that won weren’t flashy. They tackled everyday friction: confusing integrations, scattered data, and generic customer guidance. If those headaches sound familiar at your organization, it’s worth asking your platform provider how you can get a seat at the table next time.