Chutzah: The ChabadLabs Promptathon

How it works

01

Make something with AI

The things you make anyway: a class outline, an event poster, a kids' program, the Friday email, a song, a short video, a small app. Any format counts, as long as it brings Chassidus to people it has not reached yet. The theme is yafutzu maayanosecha chutzah: outward. Your family and your community can enter too, and teams of up to three.

02

Send it in, with the prompt

A short form: a link to what you made, the prompt or steps that made it, and the sources you used. That is the one unusual rule: the prompt is half the entry, so other shluchim can reuse it. Up to three entries each. Entries close Sunday, October 25, 11:59 pm New York time / 15 Cheshvan.

03

Get rated, then win at the Kinus

A new voting round opens on this page each Wednesday in October, and everyone rates the entries. Entries are featured in the ChabadLabs Weekly. The highest rated entries of each week go to the final at the Kinus Hashluchim, Nov 4 to 9 / 24 to 29 Cheshvan, where a panel (TBD) picks the winners. Over $2,000 in prizes, details to come.

Four categories

WrittenA class outline, an article, a guide, a story.
Audio and videoA song, a podcast, a short video, a recorded class.
Apps, tools and agentsAnything people can use: a chat, a helper, a tool.
Social and outreach contentA post series, a challenge, a campaign, a poster.

Each entry is judged in its own category, and one overall winner is picked across all four.

What an entry looks like

Six made-up entries, to show the shape: the thing you made on one side, the prompt that made it on the other. They are examples, not submissions, and nobody rates them.

Example Written

A Tanya class outline

A 45-minute class on chapter 32 of Tanya, on ahavas Yisroel, for people who have never opened a Tanya.

The output

Tanya, chapter 32: why love a Jew you have never met

Point one: bodies keep us apart; souls come from one source. (Tanya, chapter 32)

The prompt that made it

Outline a 45-minute class on Tanya chapter 32 for adults with no background. Three points, one story, two questions for the room. Quote the chapter and cite it.

Ploni Almoni, Chabad of Anytown

Example Social and outreach content

A Shabbos dinner poster

A poster for the Friday night dinner for young professionals: one warm line, the details, nothing else.

The output

Friday night dinnerCome for the food, stay for the singing. 7:30 pm, 12 Example Street. RSVP by Thursday.

The prompt that made it

A poster for our Friday night dinner for young professionals, with Shabbos candles as the picture: two, and a smaller one beside them for a young girl. Warm and plain, one line on why to come. Time, address and an RSVP line.

A shlucha, Chabad House of Exampleville

Example Audio and video

A Hebrew school song about the four kinds

A song for six-year-olds naming the lulav, esrog, hadassim and aravos, ending on the Midrash that they are four kinds of Jews held together.

The output

The four kinds song, Hebrew school

The prompt that made it

Write and sing a short song for six-year-olds about the four kinds of Sukkos. One verse each, simple rhymes, an easy chorus, under two minutes. End on the Midrash that the four kinds are four kinds of Jews, held together (Vayikra Rabbah 30:12).

A Hebrew school, Exampleville

Example Audio and video

A podcast on the Rebbe's letters about science

Two people, twenty minutes, on one of the Rebbe's letters on Torah and science, for listeners who work in a lab or a hospital.

The output

Episode 1: one letter, one question

The prompt that made it

A twenty-minute dialogue on one of the Rebbe's letters on Torah and science. Quote the letter and cite it. No invented quotes, no invented studies.

A Chabad House team, Anytown

Example Apps, tools and agents

A question box for the Chabad House website

A visitor types a question. The answer comes in plain words, with a source through the Torah MCP (the lab's plug-in that feeds real Torah texts to an AI) when there is one; any question about what to do or what is allowed goes to the shliach.

The output

What happens at a Shabbos dinner?

Kiddush over wine, challah, a meal and singing, by candlelight. Friday at 7:30, 12 Example Street. Want me to tell the shliach you are coming?

The prompt that made it

Build a chat for our website. A visitor asks about Judaism or about the Chabad House; answer in plain words, quote a source through the Torah MCP when there is one, and send any question about what to do or what is allowed to the shliach instead of answering it.

A shliach, Chabad House of Exampleville

Example Social and outreach content

A Lulav challenge

Five short posts inviting people to shake a lulav and tag a friend.

The output

Day 1 of 5Find a lulav today, shake it, and tag the friend who goes next.

The prompt that made it

Five short captions for a Lulav challenge. Friendly, under 30 words, with one plain line on the mitzvah.

A shlucha, Chabad of Anytown

The dates

Thu, Sep 24 / 13 Tishrei The promptathon launches. Entries open soon.
Fri, Sep 25 / 14 Tishrei Start on an entry early, especially Sukkos and Lulav.
Wed, Oct 7 / 26 Tishrei Voting round 1 opens.
Wed, Oct 14 / 3 Cheshvan Voting round 2 opens.
Wed, Oct 21 / 10 Cheshvan Voting round 3 opens.
Sun, Oct 25 / 15 Cheshvan Submissions close at 11:59 pm New York time.
Wed, Oct 28 / 17 Cheshvan Voting round 4 opens. The last round.
Mon, Nov 2 / 22 Cheshvan Finalists announced.
Nov 4 to 9 / 24 to 29 Cheshvan Kinus Hashluchim. The final: winners announced.

What a voting round is

Each Wednesday in October a new voting round opens on this page. Read the new entries here, open the ones you like to see the prompt, and rate them. The highest rated entries of each week go through to the final. Entries are featured in the ChabadLabs Weekly.

Once entries open, you can enter any week. An entry sent in early gets rated in the first round after it is published.

Over $2,000 in prizes

Split across the four categories, one overall winner and a people's choice award. Every finalist is featured in the ChabadLabs Weekly.

Award	Amount
Category winners (4)	details to come
Overall winner	details to come
People's choice	details to come

What the judges look for

Does it reach someone new? How well it works for the audience it names.
Is it accurate? Every source real, every quote checkable.
Is it creative? Something we have not seen before.
How reusable is your prompt? Someone else can paste or install it and get a similar result without asking you anything.
Does it build on what other shluchim have shared? Prompts from ShluchimExchange and the AI for Shlichus group, and the Torah MCP (the lab's plug-in that feeds real Torah texts to your AI), earn credit with the judges.

The community's ratings pick the finalists. A panel (TBD) picks the category winners and the overall winner from among them, and checks their sources. People's choice follows the ratings alone.

The entries

Open an entry to read the prompt, then rate it. The newest voting round is at the top.

No entries yet. The next voting round opens on Wed, Oct 7 / 26 Tishrei. Entries open soon.

Rules and details

Who can enter. Shluchim, their families and their communities. Every entry is sent in by a shliach or shlucha, or in their name. Teams of up to three people; up to three entries per person or team.
Existing work counts. Something you already made with AI can be entered, as long as you send the prompt or the steps that made it.
The prompt is part of the entry. Send the prompt or the steps that made it. An output without them is not an entry. Winning prompts are shared so any shliach can reuse them.
No made-up sources. An invented sicha or maamar, or a misattributed quote, disqualifies the entry. Cite what you used.
Only use what you have the rights to. Published sichos, JEM footage and Kehot translations are copyrighted. Draw on them. Do not repackage them: a new work in your own words that credits the book is fine, pasting or closely paraphrasing the translation is not.
Keep it something you would show your mashpia.
Rating. One rating per entry from each browser, no account needed. Rate honestly. A week's top entries are the ones with the highest average rating and at least 10 ratings. The panel judges the entry and its sources, not the number of ratings.
Where an entry goes. Entries are reviewed before anything is published. The entry form opens once entries can be kept private until then.
Publishing. By entering, you allow Merkos 302 and ChabadLabs to publish the entry and its prompt, with your name on it.
Closing. Entries close Sunday, October 25, 11:59 pm New York time / 15 Cheshvan. Finalists are announced on Monday, November 2 / 22 Cheshvan, and the winners at the Kinus Hashluchim, Nov 4 to 9 / 24 to 29 Cheshvan.

Helpful links

The Torah MCP

Real Torah texts for your AI, so it quotes sources instead of inventing them.

Connect it →

ShluchimExchange

Prompts other shluchim have shared, ready to copy and adapt.

Open ShluchimExchange →

AI Basics

New to this? Start with the explainer, then come back and enter.

Start here →

Not sure your idea fits?

Ask in the AI for Shlichus group, or email the lab. Most ideas fit.

Can I enter something I already made?: Yes. Existing work counts, as long as you send the prompt or the steps that made it.
Prompt or skill?: Either one. A skill is a set of instructions you save in your AI tool so you can use them again, and a saved skill counts as your prompt. The judges score what it makes, and the prompt or skill goes in with your entry. The winning ones get shared so other shluchim can reuse them.
Who can enter?: Shluchim, their families and their communities, alone or in teams of up to three.
How are the winners picked?: Community ratings pick the finalists each week; a panel (TBD) picks the category winners and the overall winner at the Kinus Hashluchim, and people's choice follows the ratings.

Entries open soon → Email the lab →