Apply now for the MLH Top 50 Class of 2026!
Applications and nominations are now open for the 2026 MLH Top 50!
Every MLH Top 50 hacker fills out an application which is carefully reviewed by the MLH team. The 50 selected are able to effectively communicate the ways in which they impacted the hacker community, the innovative work they’ve made, how they have inspired other hackers, and why their story is unique.
You can apply or nominate a friend to be a part of the MLH Top 50 for 2026!
And check out the profiles below to learn more about our past winners.
Dylan Vidal, 20
Dylan Vidal, the President of the University of Central Florida's Knight Hacks, is a passionate leader whose hackathon journey has been transformative, leading to a sophomore internship at NVIDIA and shaping his dedication to community building. He actively works to foster a vibrant Florida Hacker Circuit by organizing large-scale events and mentoring other university teams. A crowning achievement for Dylan and his team came at Bitcamp 2025, where their innovative 3D scene generation project using Gemini won them a Google award, an exclusive invitation to pitch to Google Deepmind, and a feature on a Google Cloud YouTube series. This remarkable success now fuels his mission to create similar high-impact opportunities for other student developers, a goal he pursues with the same discipline and creativity he applies to his other passions, weightlifting and Dungeons & Dragons.
Who are these hackers?
These hackers are people who have stood out from the crowd and done something exceptional within the hacker community. Whether they were creating an event to bring tech education to their area, working to make the tech world more inclusive, or programming a project with a positive impact on society, they have all inspired us. Like you, they are students or recent graduates who are using their knowledge to make the world a better place.