Are you a big Star Wars fan? Have you dreamed of having a life-sized figure of Anakin Skywaker or Obi-Wan Kenobi to decorate your living room? If your answer is yes (and if you have a very supportive family!) then you definitely need to enter Toys R Us's Galactic Star Wars Sweepstakes.

Every month from now until November 18, 2008, Toys R Us will be drawing a grand and a first prize winner in this contest. The grand prize is a life-sized action figure from the movie series, of the characters Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Captain Rex. Each comes with a protective case and is valued at $1,500.

The first prize winner each month will receive other Star Wars-themed prizes, including a Custom Commander Cody Lego Figure, a pair of Millennium Falcons, and more. Entry is open to US residents aged 13 and above. Enter daily through November 18, 2008.

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Bailey's Irish Liquor is promoting the summer version of their drink with The Shiver Sweepstakes. Show how you create a Shiver by picking one of three Bailey's flavors, adding ice, and blending, and you could win a culinary adventure with Top Chef's Richard Blais.

The grand prize winner will jet off to New York City to meet Richard Blais and go on a shopping spree. Then Blais will wine and dine you by cooking you a gourmet dinner at Perilla restaurant. You'll also receive $500 cash.

Aside from the grand prize, there are also dozens of instant prizes to be won, including $5,000 worth of air miles from Delta, gift cards to Bed, Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel, or Pier 1, and ice cream makers. Entry is open to residents of the US (void in CA, NJ, TN) aged 21 and above. Enter daily through September 15, 2008.

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Infiniti is offering some fantastic prizes in their Redefining the Drive Sweepstakes. The grand prize winner will receive a 2009 Infiniti FX35 AWD with Premium Navigation and Technology Packages worth over $50,000! You can read about the 2008 Infiniti FX35 from Aaron Gold, our Guide to Cars. The 2009 model should be even nicer, with a more powerful engine.

Additionally, two first-prize winners will be chosen to attend a golf championship game. They can pick the championship they'd like to attend from a list of possibilities offered by the sponsor. The trips include airfare, hotel, tickets, and $500 cash.

There will be three drawings for the prizes. The first golf prize will be drawn from all entries submitted before August 19, 2008, the second golf prize will be drawn from all entries submitted before August 28, 2008 (including non-winning entries for the first drawing), and the grand prize will be drawn from all entries submitted before September 28, 2008.

Entry is open to residents of the Contiguous US aged 18 and above. Daily entries will be accepted through September 28, 2008.

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I recently read an interesting article on ThomasNet about sweepstakes prizes for scientific breakthroughs. Also known as innovation contests, these offer big prizes for scientific breakthroughs.

One of the most well-known innovation contests is offered by a private group called the X Prize Foundation. X Prize, which includes notables on its Board of Trustees like Larry Page, one of the founders of Google and famous blogger Arianna Huffington, strives to use prizes to bring about "radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity."

The X Prize Group offered a $10 million prize to the first private organization to send a craft manned by three people into space two times within two weeks. The $10 million lure was successful - in 2004, SpaceShipOne, created by the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team, won the $10 million Ansari X Prize. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin called the Ansari X Prize, "the beginning of one giant leap..."

Could Innovation Contests Solve the Energy Crisis?

So the question is, is that leap something that the US government should invest in? Presidential candidate John McCain seems to think so. In a speech given on June 23, 2008, Senator McCain said:

I further propose we inspire the ingenuity and resolve of the American people by offering a $300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. This is one dollar for every man, woman and child in the U.S. -- a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency -- and should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs. (Read the Full Text of the Speech)

Could a major prize like the one Senator McCain is proposing help America out of her fuel problems?

Innovation Contests Just a Gimmick?

Unsurprisingly, McCain's opponent in the presidential race, Barack Obama, disagrees. Senator Obama responded to McCain's plan by saying:

"When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn't put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win -- he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people. That's the kind of effort we need to achieve energy independence in this country, and nothing less will do." (Read the Full Detroit News Article)

That's clear enough... until you read Barack Obama's Energy Plan and notice that he's proposing cash prizes as part of the incentive to develop advanced biofuels to reduce our dependence on oil. Perhaps Senator Obama is not as against innovation contests as he sounds at first flush.

Obama and McCain are not the only ones looking to innovation contests to solve the very real problems facing the world. For example, Richard Branson and Al Gore have teamed up to offer a $25 million innovation prize to scientists who come up with plans to reduce global warming. Given that Republicans and Democrats both favor the idea, the question of innovation contests is not a partisan issue.

Past Success through Innovation Contests

If you read Fast Company's Innovation Contests Throughout Time, you'll be amazed at some of the achievements that contests have spurred. They include the development of canning foods (thanks to a prize Napoleon offered, to help preserve food for soldiers on the march), the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris (won by Charles Lindenburgh), and even margarine, developed when Napoleon III called for a substitute for butter.

Are Innovation Contests the Way to the Answer?

So what do you think? Should the US government sponsor contests to spur innovation to solve some of the nation's greatest problems? Why or why not? Click on the comments link below to share your opinion!