How My First Hackathon Became a One-Shot Miracle

From Breakdown to Breakthrough — How My First Hackathon Became a One-Shot Miracle

This was my first hackathon — and I’ll never forget it.

🌱 My First Hackathon, My First Dream

When I first joined the Bolt.new Hackathon, I had one bold goal:

Build something amazing. Something I could believe in.

For a whole month, I poured my energy into an ambitious AI-powered smartphone app called SelfEqui — designed to help users grow their sense of self-worth by partnering with an AI mentor. I wasn’t just building an app. I was building something personal, something I truly hoped would matter.

One of my closest colleagues, @shutils, believed in the concept deeply. He cheered me on, offered ideas, and shared his own thoughts on what it means to believe in yourself. That’s why, when I realized — just days before the deadline — that I couldn’t finish it in time, it wasn’t just disappointing. It was heartbreaking.

I was ready to give up.

But then… something in me shifted.

🔄 A Late-Night Pivot

At 12:00 AM JST (6 hours before the hackathon ended on June 30th, Pacific Time), I pivoted to a backup idea I had quietly been refining — a wildcard entry I called TryPy.

Built entirely through one perfect prompt, TryPy is a web-based Python learning app that teaches coding through bite-sized lessons, quizzes, and real-time practice — all in the browser, no setup needed. It evaluates your code, encourages clean writing, and gives a cheeky ⭐️ score for fun.

TryPy was never supposed to be the submission. But in that moment, it became my focus.

🛠️ One Prompt, One Console, One Shot

I took Monday off work, anticipating an all-nighter.

I deployed the app, connected the domain, added the Bolt.new sticker… and found more hidden requirements than I expected. But Bolt.new made them surprisingly easy. One prompt. One click. One console.

Even under pressure — it just worked.

⏰ The 5:30AM Submission

Being a Japanese speaker, I didn’t feel confident presenting my app in English.

But thanks to ElevenLabs, I was able to create an emotional, narrated demo video that captured what I couldn’t express myself.

At 5:30 AM JST, I hit “Submit.”

💬 Someone Is Always Watching

Then, something small but unforgettable happened.

My colleague @shutils — who didn't even have a Devpost account — made one just to give me a “Like.”

He told me he was still sad about SelfEqui not launching, but proud of the effort I put in. And that like? It felt like the loudest applause in the world.

Because sometimes, all it takes is one person to see your effort.

And you owe it to yourself to show that effort — even if the world might laugh at it. Especially then.

A few days later, I knew there would be a live awards stream, but I wasn’t paying much attention — after all, Pacific Time isn’t exactly kind to folks in Japan!

On that quiet Sunday morning, I casually opened my inbox and noticed a few emails from Devpost.

I assumed they were about a new hackathon I’d recently followed. Still, I felt a strange flutter in my chest.

And then, I opened one of them...

I received a message from Devpost: 🏆 You’ve won the One-Shot Award.

My first hackathon. My first award.

And all because I chose to show up and try.

🧘 You Can’t Win Everything — And That’s Okay

I didn’t win everything. But that’s okay.

Even Olympic athletes don’t win gold in every event.

What matters is focus. Not running from reality, but committing to one shot — and making it count.

I want to use this result to show what’s possible with VibeCoding — a creative, intuitive approach to app building that puts human imagination before syntax.

TryPy was made without writing a single line of code (though yes, debugging required some).

Ironically, it teaches Python — and maybe, someday, it’ll teach the next builder how to create something like itself.

🙏 Thank You for Believing in Just One Shot

So thank you: to Bolt.new, to all the sponsors, to @shutils, and to every brave soul who ever said, “I’ll give it a shot.”

Thank you for reminding me that one shot is sometimes all it takes.

Next time, I’ll dream bigger.

But this time?

I’m proud I didn’t walk away.