Earlier this year the New York Times held a Whiteboard Innovation Challenge which "invited readers to share an innovation that they have made in their daily lives", these innovation did not have to be physical prototypes, just ideas that would make the world a better place. The NYT commissioned all-star judges: Paola Antonelli (NY MoMA Curator), James Dyson (of Dyson Inc.), Ben Kaufman (Founder of Quirky) and Martha Stewart (Queenbee of homestead) to review the entries and each selected their own personal favourite.

Hundreds of entries were submitted, only a few made it to the New York Times website. Of the four winners chosen for publication 3 of the winners were Instructables members:

• CEO of Instructables Eric Wilhelm's (ewilhelm) Toddler's Painting Station
• Editor of instructables Mike Warren's (mikeasaurus) Umbrella Light
• Prolific Instructables author Mark Langford's (kiteman) Beach Skates

If you picked up the June 2012 Edition of the NYT Magazine the finalists are on the last page, along with a brief writeup from one of the judges on why that innovation was selected. See the scanned copy of the finalists below: