Twelve spots, five hours, one brief nobody has seen before. You build at noon and pitch at night in front of an audience. With AI, at vibe-coding speed.
Applying is free and open to vibe coders, developers and AI obsessives from all of Europe. No age limit. Applications close 15 October 2026.
APPLICATION · VCA26 ARENA · UNTIL 15 OCT 2026
Four short steps, under two minutes. You link a project you built yourself and tell us which part of it is yours. Applications close 15 October 2026.
Applying and competing are free. There is no age limit, anyone in Europe can apply.
Your application is in. We read every application as it comes in and will get back to you. The steps are under "What happens after you apply".
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We look at how you think, at the idea, and at the parts you actually owned.
With shortlisted applicants we go through setup, expectations and open questions on a video call.
Only the written confirmation secures your spot.
The brief stays secret. Call time, schedule, tech and permitted tools are set beforehand.
Nobody can prepare. Everyone finds out what to build in the room, at the same moment.
"So, we need something new. Has to look fresh, modern, you know the thing. Not like the others. Just do something."
Vague, real, the way clients actually brief. Nobody sees it beforehand.
No follow-up questions, no second document. That's all the builders get.
Five hours. No going back, no second round.
For guests the doors open at 5 pm. Your day starts earlier. This is the only page with times on it, and they apply to you.
You get your spot in the Arena, power, network and a tech check. In between, the FAIME video team shoots your intro video. Coffee's on.
The brief is read out, to all twelve at once. Then the pitch blocks are drawn.
Five hours, your laptop, your tools. Your people stand around the Arena, nobody else.
The doors open while you build the last half hour. The countdown runs on the LED wall.
Time's up. Your screen stays on and becomes part of the gallery. The jury walks the row, and so do the guests.
Two blocks, six pitches each, the keynotes in between. The spotlight decides when you're up.
Four trophies, one stage, right after the last pitch. Then the bar, and nothing left to hand in.
Free, no cap on numbers, with you from 10:30. During the day they stand around the Arena and watch you work. From 5 pm they're in the middle of the audience and vote in the People's Choice.
You tell us how many are coming once you're confirmed. That's all we need.
12 SPOTS · SOLO OR TEAM
The work block sits under the chandeliers, set up like a LAN party. Until 5 pm only your people and those of the other spots are around you. Then the guests come in, walk the rows, see the screens and hear you argue. Lounges run all the way around, where they sit down and keep watching.
The jury judges the result. Not the team size, not the number of assets and not the length of the prompt.
Solo or team, and how big: that decides your pitch block. The goal stays the same.
Twelve pitches run in two blocks. Block A is for the smallest spots, Block B for the biggest, so agencies, studios and teams. You get your block at kickoff, the order within it is decided by the spotlight at night. In the Grand Prix only the build counts: if one person wins it, they take the Solo Bounty home. If a team wins it, they've shown a full room why teams still matter.
BLOCK A · SIX PITCHES
The six smallest spots: the solos first, then the smallest teams. Solo means one person. From two on, you are a team. You pitch first, right after the first keynote.
BLOCK B · SIX PITCHES
The six biggest spots, up to four people. Agency, studio or loose collective, you pitch after the second keynote, as the last block before the final.
WHAT HAS TO BE DONE BY THE END
Positioning and the central creative direction.
A visual base system plus a key visual.
A published, working landing page.
Four minutes live on stage.
Bonus, not required: 3D, motion, video, social assets or a clickable prototype can strengthen the idea. More output doesn't automatically mean more points.
That's one half. The other half sits in the room: the audience hands out the People's Choice, with no criteria grid and no obligation to explain. Both prizes can go to different builds. That's on purpose.
Everyone who competes gets their own intro video on event day, shot by the FAIME video team: line-up, a short turn, a card on the LED wall. Like sport, only what you make here is a build. The cards below show the setup. The real builders arrive once the twelve spots are taken.
SPOT 01 · SOLO
STACK Claude Code, v0, Supabase, Vercel
SPOT 02 · SOLO
STACK Figma, Midjourney, Framer, Cursor
SPOT 03 · TEAM · 4 PEOPLE
STACK Figma, Webflow, Runway, Notion
SPOT 04 · TEAM · 3 PEOPLE
STACK VS Code, Claude, Blender, Cloudflare
Want to be on a card like that? Apply for the Arena
These five judge your build. The full profiles are on the award day page.
FORMBURG · Webflow Educator
Watches for design and motion. And for the human part: the love of detail that no prompt creates on its own.
Creative Director · Brand Designer
Asks about the idea behind the project, and whether your design makes the brand tangible.
Kabarza · Design Engineer
Judges storytelling, brand, structure and UX. So he asks what your build can do, and whether it all fits together.
Product Builder · AI Enthusiast
Looks under the hood: tech, accessibility, and whether anyone can find your build.
BeAStar Productions
Invented the format. So he knows exactly where five hours start to hurt.
However the day ends, a spot is not a raffle ticket with a certificate at the end.
0 €
Applying and the spot itself are free. You bring a laptop, chargers and your own tool accounts, we provide the rest. Twelve spots, handed out one by one.
4 MINUTES
A live pitch at night in front of a full room and a jury that builds things itself. Plus your own intro video, shot at noon by the FAIME video team.
4 TROPHIES
Four trophies cross the same stage at night: the open Grand Prix for the best overall product, the room's People's Choice and one each for the best solo and the best team of the day. If a Solo Builder wins the Grand Prix, the Solo Bounty comes on top.
Free, no age limit, open to all of Europe. You need a project you built yourself and a few minutes.