From historic headlines to future-focused AI: our second AIM Hackathon, “Put News Archives to Life,” brought 24 participants together to reimagine access to 87,000+ articles. The sprint culminated on stage at the AustrianStartups Summit 2025 in Vienna.
The Challenge
How can Large Language Models (LLMs) make historical news archives accessible, searchable, and relevant again — for journalists, researchers, and the wider public? In partnership with the Media Innovation Lab of Mediengruppe Wiener Zeitung, teams explored retrieval, analysis, and narrative clarity on top of decades of reporting.
Three Teams. Three Ideas.
- 🥇 nexus. Group AI — SARA: an AI platform that turns the Wiener Zeitung archive into a living knowledge base using sentiment analysis, author-based clustering, and a custom vector DB to surface semantically related articles.
- 🥈 The Pollis: cross-outlet, cross-time comparisons that reveal how international media report on the same topic across geographies — highlighting narrative tone and coverage patterns.
- 🥉 Venom Boys: a polarization-aware reader that automatically curates supporting and opposing perspectives for any topic, encouraging balanced understanding.
Prizes
| Placement | Award |
|---|---|
| 1st | €1,500 + startup stand & 3 summit tickets, Investors Lounge access, logo/link on summit page |
| 2nd | €1,000 |
| 3rd | €500 |
Jury
- Petronela Altrichter — Former COO at Microsoft; coach and innovation leader in AI & digital transformation
- Nina Hoedlmayr — Co-founder of Yodel.io (acquired by Brevo); AustrianStartups board member
- Valentin Krenkel — Deputy GM at invest.austria; founder of ArtReThought
Event Timeline
- 22.03.2025 — Hackathon day (“Put News Archives to Life”)
- 01.04.2025 — Finale & showcase at AustrianStartups Summit
Key Takeaways
- Context is king — LLMs shine when paired with structured retrieval and rich metadata.
- Diversity reduces bias — Surfacing opposing narratives improves media literacy.
- From archives to insights — Tools that connect articles semantically unlock new investigative workflows.
What Happened Next
The impact of this hackathon extended far beyond the event itself. Four out of the participating teams were so inspired by their ideas that they joined the Media Innovation Lab Incubator programme right after the hackathon to further develop their startup concepts. This demonstrates the real potential of bringing together passionate innovators to tackle meaningful challenges in the media technology space.
Thanks
Huge thanks to all participants, mentors, and our jury — and to AustrianStartups for providing a fantastic stage for ideas with impact. Special appreciation to our partner, the Media Innovation Lab of Mediengruppe Wiener Zeitung, for opening up the archive and the conversation.
