Warangal: The Tri-City AI Hackathon 2026, organised by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) at Kakatiya Institute of Technology and Science (KITS), Warangal, in association with Centle India, Hyderabad, concluded on Sunday after a 24-hour event.
According to the organisers, around 1,500 students participated in the hackathon, representing more than 500 teams from nine states and nearly 150 colleges. School students also took part in the event.
A total of 15 winning teams received certificates and cash prizes from a prize pool of ₹50,000 during the valedictory ceremony. Of these, eight teams were from KITS Warangal, while the remaining seven represented colleges in Warangal, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. A team from The Hyderabad Public School was also among the winners, reflecting the participation of school students in technology-based problem-solving activities.
Vamshi Guguloth, Founder of Centle India, Hyderabad, attended the event as the chief guest. He highlighted the participation of students from different states and institutions.
Capt. V. Lakshmikantha Rao, former Rajya Sabha MP and Chairman of KITS Warangal; P. Narayana Reddy, Treasurer of KITSW; V. Satish Kumar, former Husnabad MLA and Additional Secretary of KITSW; and Principal Prof. K. Ashoka Reddy congratulated the organising team of the CSE (AI & ML) department for conducting the event.
In his presidential remarks, Prof. K. Ashoka Reddy congratulated the winning teams and all the participants.
Centle India is a startup founded by IIT and IIM alumni and incubated at T-Hub, Hyderabad. It focuses on career development, innovation and industry engagement for students and young professionals. The hackathon aimed to provide students with opportunities to develop solutions to problems and gain experience relevant to industry requirements.
Centle India Co-Founder G. Sai Krishna, Jagan Naik, an alumnus of KITS Warangal and Deputy Regional Manager of the Hyderabad Region at TGSRTC, Head of the Department of CSE (AI & ML) Dr. A. Jothi Prabha, Associate Professor and PRO Dr. D. Prabhakara Chary, senior faculty members Dr. Vinay Kumar, S. Nagaraju and Dr. B. Hanumanthu, along with faculty, staff and student representatives, attended the valedictory ceremony.
