Germany's stage. Europe's best.
12 builders. 5 hours. One brief nobody has seen before.
Live at Flora Köln, whole brands come to life: idea, website, images, video. Built with AI, at vibe-coding speed.
One ticket, one price: €13.37. Presale opens soon. Want to compete? Applying is free and open to all of Europe. No age limit. Applications close 15 October 2026.
A brand, a website, a film: until now that vanished into an agency for weeks. At some point a result came back, and nobody ever saw what went on in between.
On 5 November it happens in the open. Twelve teams, a room full of people watching and chiming in. Like a live cooking show, except what ends up on the table is a brand.
Daytime
Tech expo, talks and deep dive workshops lead into the Arena: six solo builders and six crews work the same brief in front of an audience.
Evening
Twelve builds, twelve live pitches: the jury hands out the Grand Prix and the class wins, the room decides the People's Choice.
After that
Nothing you have to sit through: drinks, places to sit, and the people you came for. Plus one thing that isn't on the agenda.
Talks and workshops run alongside the Arena, in German and English. The first name is in, more follow before presale.
Talk · first confirmed
known as Kabarza
Design Engineering: The new path from idea to website
Design engineering means the person who decides how something looks also builds it. Fateh walks through how that works at his agency, from Figma through code to the finished website. A new process opens up new possibilities, and those belong in what you offer. Fateh shows how.
We'll announce more speakers and workshops before presale. To hear about them first: join the waitlist
Cologne, Germany. Talks run in German and English, depending on who's speaking. There's no live translation: every talk goes online after the event as a recording with subtitles in the other language. In the Arena, you pitch in German or English, your call.
Twelve teams, six of them solo and six as crews, get the same brief around midday. Until then nobody knows it, not even the jury. What it says, counts.
For five hours they build in front of you: idea, website, images, film. You walk between the tables, read the prompts, hear the debates. At the end every team pitches on stage, the jury scores, the room awards the People's Choice.
Want a seat at one of the twelve tables? Apply for the Arena. Free, open to all of Europe, until 15 October 2026. Pitch in German or English. Questions first? FAQ for builders.
The first seats at the jury desk are taken, more names follow before presale. Open a card if you want to know who's judging your build.
Product Builder · AI Enthusiast
Looks under the hood: tech, accessibility, and whether anyone can find your build.
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.
BeAStar Productions
Invented the format. So he knows exactly where five hours start to hurt.
We'll fill more seats at the desk before presale, and we'll reveal the trophy itself soon. To hear about both first: join the waitlist
Expo here means you see technology inside a real workflow instead of behind glass.
Award day puts a trade fair, a workshop and a stage in the same building. For builders, tech teams and decision makers, and for the companies writing the next chapter of software and hardware.
Tech expo
IT companies, AI and software vendors and hardware makers show new tools, workstations, infrastructure and interfaces where people can try them out and discuss them on the spot.
Workshops
Hands on, no glossy slides. The beginner sessions are "AI for your company", "your first logo" and image generation from scratch. If you want to go deeper, the curated deep dives get into models and workflows. And the machines both of them run on.
Prompt battles
Between the program slots two people go head to head: same task, a few minutes, the result runs straight on the LED wall. You can sign up that day.
Talks & demos
Product teams, experts and practitioners share what works today, what comes next, and which questions the industry still has to solve together.
This is what Flora Köln looks like on an event day. Shots from the 2025 season.
Do you build software, models, hardware or infrastructure? Then bring your product to the day as an expo, workshop or program partner.
See partner formatsYou sit in the same room whether you've never written a line of code or have made a living from it for years. What you want to know beforehand is in the FAQ.
You follow the show like a game and after two hours you understand what's actually going on. In the beginner workshop you build your first logo, and you're there for the brief, when the twelve teams hear for the first time what they're building.
Get in early: join the waitlist
You want to know what this means for your business. There are workshops like "AI for your company" and conversations at the expo areas with people who use it daily. Above all, the people you usually have to hunt for are all in this room: the best from Germany and Europe, one day, one place. And after the awards the night carries on, where talking is easier than at any trade fair.
Workshop seats are limited: join the waitlist
You stand behind the tables and see how other people solve the same problem. In between you drop into a prompt battle, then into a deep dive. In the evening you vote in the People's Choice and know pretty much why.
For the deep dives: join the waitlist
One day, five stations. The exact times land with the presale. What happens is already set.
Morning
The tech expo opens, the first demos run, coffee is ready.
Daytime
Deep dives in the Dachsalon, talks on stage, and in the Arena the build clock is running.
Afternoon
Twelve builds on stage. The room votes on who wins.
Evening
All four trophies handed over. Who gives the keynote is still to be announced.
After that
Drinks, places to sit, and one thing that isn't on the agenda.
Best Solo Build and Best Crew Build keep the two divisions fair. The Grand Prix goes to the strongest work of the whole day, no matter how many people built it. The room hands out the People's Choice on top of that.
If a solo takes the Grand Prix against every crew, the Solo Bounty comes with it. We'll announce the amount and the partner before the last seats in the Arena are given out.
Before all that comes the headliner keynote. We're not giving away the name yet, but it's the best slot of the night.
All four trophies cross the same stage on the same evening, right after the keynote.
Evening Headliner keynote, announcement to follow.
Once the last trophy is handed over, the evening does something we're not revealing yet. Nothing you have to sit through, more the part where you get to know the people you came for along the way. Drinks, places to sit, and one thing that isn't on the agenda.
We'll say what it is shortly before the presale.
FAIME produces events and awards in Cologne. Most recently the Deutscher Netzwerk Award (the German Network Award), whose 2025 premiere ran with 148 partners in this very building. In 2026 the same team runs sixteen evenings here. This is one of them.
Managing Director BeAStar & FAIME
Has been producing awards and company events in Cologne for years, with his own tech and video crew in house. Award day is his responsibility.
Initiator & Head of Creative Development
Initiated the Vibe Code Awards and built the format: take vibe coding out of the back room and put it on a stage. Owns the concept, the brand and everything digital.
A new format brings new questions. Here are the ones we hear most: for everyone who comes to watch, and for everyone who wants to compete.
Your question isn't here? farzan@vibecodeawards.de
A day at Flora Köln with a tech expo, workshops, talks and the Arena: twelve builders get the same brief around midday and spend five hours building a complete brand in front of the audience, from the idea to a live website. Then everyone pitches on stage, jury and room pick the winners, and the night goes on.
No. You follow the Arena like a game: you see the screens, read the prompts, hear the crews argue. If you want to try something yourself, join a beginner workshop like "your first logo" or sign up on site for a prompt battle. No prior knowledge needed.
Building with AI: you describe what you want, the AI writes the code, generates the images or the copy, and you steer, check and decide. That's how a website, visuals and a film come together in hours instead of weeks. In the Arena you watch exactly that process live.
€13.37, one price for everyone, valid for the whole day from the expo to the evening. Presale opens soon. If you're on the waitlist you hear first and get a seat before anyone else. Capacities and exact times are announced when presale opens.
In the morning the tech expo opens. Around midday the builders get their brief and the build time starts, with workshops, talks and prompt battles running alongside. In the afternoon all twelve pitch on stage and the room votes, in the evening come the keynote and the awards. Exact times are fixed when presale opens.
Yes, in the People’s Choice. After the pitches the audience awards it, no scoring grid and no explanation required.
German and English, depending on who is speaking. There's no live translation: every talk goes online after the event as a recording with subtitles in the other language. In the Arena, pitches are in German or English.
Flora Köln, Am Botanischen Garten 1a, 50735 Cologne, right next to the zoo. Take the tram to the Zoo/Flora stop (line 18), from there it's a two-minute walk.
Anyone in Europe who builds with AI: freelancers, employees, studios, self-taught builders. Solo builders compete alone, crews with two to four people. There's no age limit, under 18 we just need a consent form from your parents. Your CV is not a discipline.
Nothing. Applying and the seat are free, there's no entry fee. You bring a laptop, chargers and your own tool accounts, we provide the rest.
Applications close on 15 October 2026. Applying takes under two minutes: you link a project or portfolio and tell us in a sentence or two which part of it is yours. We review continuously, and every application gets a clear yes or no. Only a written confirmation secures your seat. The twelve builders are announced publicly before the event.
A small world that actually works: idea and positioning, a visual system with a key visual, a published landing page and a four-minute pitch. 3D, motion, video or social assets can strengthen the idea but aren't required. More output doesn't automatically mean more points.
Your own, no restrictions. Three rules apply to everyone: the competition build starts only after the shared brief, outside human help during the build time is off limits, and after submission you disclose your tool stack and rough workflow.
The jury looks at five things: brief and target group (30%), strength of the idea (25%), brand and design (20%), landing page and usability (15%) and the live pitch (10%). Not team size, not the number of assets, not the length of the prompt. The People’s Choice comes from the room, independently of that.
Four trophies: Best Solo Build, Best Crew Build, the open Grand Prix for the strongest work of the day and the audience's People’s Choice. If a solo wins the Grand Prix against all crews, the Solo Bounty comes on top, amount and partner are announced before the seats are assigned. Plus your own intro video by the FAIME video team and four minutes in front of a full room.
Yes and yes. Brief, the full build time and the pitch happen on site at Flora, that's a requirement for the seat. You pitch in German or English, your call.
€13.37
One ticket, one price.
We'll announce the number of tickets and the exact times when presale opens. Everyone on the waitlist hears it first, and gets a seat before anyone else.
Did somebody tell you about the VCA? Put their name in. When presale opens, we give out free tickets through the people who invited you.
How we handle your data is in our privacy policy (German).
You're on the list. We'll be in touch when presale opens.
That didn't work. Write to us at farzan@vibecodeawards.de.
for IT companies, manufacturers & partners
For one day the best from Germany and Europe sit in one room and work in front of you. If you're hiring, selling tools or want to see how fast people build now, you'll meet all of them at once.
Expo stands, experience areas, workshops, show formats and lounges around the Arena: what award day holds for companies, associations and speakers has its own page.
