Enter the Popular Science Invention Awards

Do you have an invention you KNOW will someday change the world? Have you been toiling for years in your basement, building prototype after prototype to PROVE that your idea works? If so, tell us about it! Enter the second annual PopSci Invention Awards.

We're looking for game-changing products that come from the passionate drive of independent inventors, not those born in the R&D labs of universities and corporations. PopSci editors will pick 10 inventions that best represent the spirit of homegrown ingenuity and solve real-world problems in a practical and innovative way. And we'll show them to our seven million readers in our June 2008 issue. Here are a few guidelines:

• Inventions must be physical objects-no processes or concepts.
• There must be a working prototype or something else that demonstrates that the invention actually works.
• Inventions must be the work of independent inventors or small teams; outside funding is fine, but inventions created wholly out of universities or other R&D labs will not be considered.
• Inventions must be something new, not just an incremental improvement on an existing item.
• PopSci will not publish an entry online or in print without notifying the inventor first, but we will seek third-party verification of the technology and significance of the invention. All intellectual-property protection is the responsibility of the entrant.
• All entries must be received by Feb 1, 2008.

Click here to see last year's winners.

SPECIAL HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENT DIVISION

This year weâ€re adding a special award for inventions created by high-school students. The same criteria apply, and the winner will also be featured in the June 2008 issue, plus he or she will receive a $5,000 college scholarship and a chance to have the invention featured on PopSciâ€s 2008 national college tour. All inventors who will graduate from high school no earlier than March 2008 are eligible.

To enter either contest, send an e-mail to inventions@popsci.com with no more than 300 words describing your invention: how it works, what problem it solves, and how it came to be. Feel free to include photos or drawings, but please keep the e-mail under two megabytes. If you're entering the Student Division, please put â€Student Division†in your subject line.