Vesuvius Challenge has awarded $1,803,500 in prizes!
This page lists all the prizes awarded so far:
$3,000 Progress Prizes (June, 2026)
Goal: Improve the tools and training methods needed to read the scrolls.Announcement: Blog post
$12,000 Progress Prizes (May, 2026)
Goal: Improve the tools and training methods needed to read the scrolls.Announcement: Blog post
$200,000 Kaggle Surface Detection (March, 2026)
Goal: Optimize topologically accurate papyrus surface detection methods.Announcement: Blog post / Kaggle competition / Kaggle leaderboard
$1,000 Open Source (March, 2026)
Goal: Improve virtual unwrapping for the Surface Detection challenge.Announcement: Blog post
$1,000 Open Source (July, 2025)
Goal: Improve virtual unwrappingAnnouncement: Blog post
$2,500 Open Source (June, 2025)
Goal: Improve virtual unwrappingAnnouncement: Blog post
$7,000 Open Source (May, 2025)
Goal: Updates to toolingAnnouncement: Blog post
$60,000 First Title Prize (May, 2025)
Goal: Discover the end title of a sealed Herculaneum scroll.Announcement: Blog post
$7,000 Open Source (April, 2025)
Goal: Get us closer to reading entire scrolls Announcement: Blog post
$10,500 Open Source (February, 2025)
Goal: Get us closer to reading entire scrolls.Announcement: Blog post
$60,000 First Automated Segmentation (December, 2024)
Goal: Reproduce the 2023 Grand Prize segmentation result, but faster.Announcement: Blog post
$13,500 Open Source (December, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$2,500
Volumetric segmentation model : Tim Skinner / @Tim S, Lachlan Parker, John Skinner
$2,500
Ink labels : Nicola Bodill / @polytrope
$2,500
Interactive mesh refinement : James Darby / @james darby
$1,000
vesuvius-render : Johannes Rudolph / @jrudolph
$1,000
Electric field-based flattening : Yao Hsiao / @Yao Hsiao, Dalufishe / @Dalufish
$1,000
Data overlays in Khartes : Chuck / @khartes_chuck
$1,000
Optimized ink detection : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$1,000
Supervoxel-based segmentation methods : Forrest McDonald / @verditelabs
$1,000
Segmentation tools : William Stevens / @Will Stevens
$29,000 Open Source (November, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$10,000
Segment patch generation : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$10,000
vesuvius-c library : Forrest McDonald / @verditelabs
$2,500
Electric potential scroll flattening : Yao Hsiao / @Yao Hsiao, Dalufishe / @Dalufish
$2,500
Various datasets : Sean Johnson / @sean (bruniss), Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$1,000
phalanx : Marcel Roth
$1,000
2D -> 3D labeling tool : James Darby / @james darby
$1,000
zarr_to_ome script : Chuck / @khartes_chuck
$1,000
New segment in title region : Elian Rafael Dal Prá / @err, Sean Johnson / @sean (bruniss)
$18,500 Open Source (October, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$2,500
Segmentation models : Sean Johnson / @sean (bruniss)
$2,500
Optimizing surface models : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$2,500
Surface mesh refinement : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$2,500
C library : Forrest McDonald / @verditelabs
$2,500
Zarr support in vesuvius-gui : Johannes Rudolph / @jrudolph
$1,000
Self-supervised pretraining for ink detection : Jorge García-Carrasco / @jgcarrasco
$1,000
Interactive segmentation improvements in Volume Cartographer : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$1,000
Segmentation toolkit improvements : William Stevens / @Will Stevens
$1,000
Umbilicus Maker : James Darby / @james darby
$1,000
Meshing high curvature segmentations : James Darby / @james darby
$1,000
Visualization canvas : Yao Hsiao / @Yao Hsiao, Dalufishe / @Dalufish
$48,500 Open Source (September, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$20,000
Fiber following : Sean Johnson / @sean (bruniss)
$10,000
Inkalyzer : Youssef Nader / @YoussefNader
$2,500
Fragment ink labeling : Youssef Nader / @YoussefNader
$2,500
Fast meshing and flattening : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$2,500
Meshes from volumetric labels : James Darby / @james darby
$2,500
vesuvius-gui improvements : Johannes Rudolph / @jrudolph
$2,500
Self-supervised ink detection : Jorge García-Carrasco / @jgcarracsco, Andoni Irazusta-Garmendia / @theleprechaun25
$1,000
Segmentation optimization : Hendrik Schilling / @waldkauz
$1,000
Volumetric labeling improvements : James Darby / @james darby
$1,000
Scroll Sleuth : Paul Geiger / @PaulG
$1,000
Small surface segmentation : William Stevens / @Will Stevens
$1,000
Data streaming in Khartes : Chuck / @khartes_chuck
$1,000
Vesuvius Ink Generator : Seth Stewart
$41,000 Open Source (August, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$10,000
Segment Browser : Johannes Rudolph / @jrudolph
$10,000
Volumetric instance labeling : James Darby / @james darby
$10,000
Khartes3D : Chuck / @khartes_chuck
$2,500
Rescaled fragment surface volumes : Johannes Rudolph / @jrudolph
$2,500
Flood fill for segmentation : Will Stevens / @Will Stevens
$2,500
Convert volumetric segmentations to meshes : James Darby / @james darby
$2,500
Ink detection patch aggregation report : Arefeh Sherafati / @arefeh, Lou Schlessinger / @ls_96
$1,000
wj-wt-ftt : Yao Hsiao / @Yao Hsiao, Dalufishe / @Dalufish
$11,000 Open Source (July, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$12,500 Open Source (June, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$29,000 Open Source (May, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$35,000 Open Source (April, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$20,000
3D ink detection : Ryan Chesler / @emel_ryan
$2,500
Mesh merging : Giorgio Angelotti / @Jordi
$2,500
Instance segmentation labels : James Darby / @james darby
$2,500
Unsupervised pretraining : Ryan Chesler / @emel_ryan
$2,500
New segments : Sean Johnson / @Bruniss
$1,000
Volumetric processing tools : Forrest McDonald / @VerditeLabs
$1,000
Point cloud comparison : Giorgio Angelotti / @Jordi
$1,000
Instance segmentation experiments : James Darby, Ryan Reszetnik, Liamo Pennimpede, Lucas Nelson
$1,000
Meshing and chunking : Santiago Pelufo / @spelufo
$1,000
Pipeline Visualize : Yao Hsiao / @Yao Hsiao
$42,500 Open Source (March, 2024)
Goal: Increase the probability we read 90% of four scrolls in 2024.Announcement: Blog post
$20,000
Rendering improvements : Giorgio Angelotti / @Jordi
$10,000
Multiresolution chunked volumes : Chuck / @khartes_chuck
$2,500
Volumetric ink detection : Jorge Villaescusa / @mojonero
$2,500
Volumetric segmentation labels : Tim Skinner / @Tim S
$2,500
Data improvements : James Darby / @james darby
$1,000
Segment-to-segment label mapping : Oliver Daubney / @O_D
$1,000
Cell viewer and segmentation comparison : Yao Hsiao / @Yao Hsiao
$1,000
Superpixels and cells : Santiago Pelufo / @spelufo
$1,000
Other segmentation axes, 3D ink labels : Sean Johnson / @Bruniss
$1,000
Colab notebook and ink labels : Nicola Bodill / @polytrope
$850,000 Grand Prize 2023 (December 31, 2023)
Goal: Reveal four passages within the scrolls.Announcement: Announcement page
$700,000
Winner : Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor, and Julian Schilliger
$50,000
Runner up : Lou Schlessinger and Arefeh Sherafati
$50,000
Runner up : Elian Rafael Dal Prá, Sean Johnson, Leonardo Scabini, Raí Fernando Dal Prá, João Vitor Brentigani Torezan, Daniel Baldin Franceschini, Bruno Pereira Kellm, Marcelo Soccol Gris, and Odemir Martinez Bruno
$12,000 Open Source (December 31, 2023)
Goal: Increase the probability the Grand Prize gets awarded.Announcement: Blog post
$25,000 Open Source (November 30, 2023)
Goal: Increase the probability the Grand Prize gets awarded.Announcement: Blog post
$8,000
Next-gen Volume Cartographer : Philip Allgaier / @spacegaier
$5,000
Segment Browser : Johannes Rudolph / @jrudolph
$5,000
Ink Detection Masks : Anton Repushko / @repushko
$1,000
Sharkbite fix : Chuck / @khartes_chuck
$1,000
Vesuvius Kintsugi : Giorgio Angelotti / @jordi45698
$1,000
Crackle Labels : Sean Johnson / @bruniss
$1,000
Omit : Timo Meireman / @timo_71099
$1,000
Segment Viewer by Yao Hsiao / @Yao_Hsiao and Dalufishe / @Dalufish
$1,000
Single-sheet Segmentation : Brett Olsen / @brett_olsen
$1,000
Multiple Contributions : Santiago Pelufo / @spelufo
$60,000 First Letters & Ink (October 12, 2023)
Goal: Find the first letters within the scrolls.Announcement: Announcement page
Goal: Help the segmentation team do larger and harder areas.Announcement: Blog post
$12,000 Ink Detection Followup (September 8, 2023)
Goal: Take the models from the Ink Detection Prize (see below) and apply them to the scrolls, to find letters.Announcement: Blog post
Goal: Help the segmentation team do larger and harder areas.Announcement: Blog post
$100,000 Kaggle Ink Detection (July 14, 2023)
Goal: Optimize fragment-based ink detection methods.Announcement: Blog post / Kaggle competition / More info
$10,000 Open Source (April 14, 2023)
Goal: Increase the probability the Grand Prize gets awarded.Announcement: Blog post / Live stream
Before and during the competition, EduceLab has put out various works. With these tools, they have laid the foundation for the community. While EduceLab members are ineligible for prizes, we want to recognize their efforts.
