Chennai: Students from Tamil Nadu secured top honours at “DEVTrails 2026”, a national-level virtual hackathon organised by Guidewire Software, by developing technology-driven insurance models for India's gig workers.

At the grand “DemoJam” finals held in Bengaluru, the “Astro Bugs” team from SRM Institute of Science and Technology won the first prize for its AI-powered insurance model “Winkit”.

The winning team comprised third-year engineering students Pavithra CB, Nikhil CB, Amman Kaleem Khan and Ayush Daga.

The “MOG Squad” team from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham secured the first runner-up position for its “Continuum” model, while the “Code Mavens” team from SRM Educational Institutions, Chennai, finished as second runner-up for its “SafeShift” model.

Organised in collaboration with the National Insurance Academy and EY India, the hackathon saw participation from more than 18,000 students representing 30 universities across the country.

The competition aimed to develop insurance-based solutions for challenges faced by India's estimated 12 million gig workers using emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and full-stack development.

Participants were given seed capital and tasked with building end-to-end scalable solutions within six weeks while responding to simulated challenges including market crashes and fraudulent incidents such as GPS spoofing.

Mohamed Anzy S, Managing Director and Vice President-Engineering at Guidewire India, said the initiative demonstrated the impact of combining talent, technology and industry partnerships.

Guidewire India also developed “DEVTrails Judge”, an AI-powered platform used to evaluate and score hackathon projects.