The prize model does indeed have a long, rich history.
The prize model is increasingly being tried on work like new science and freelance projects in design and advertising.
In the innovation game, the prize model may be becoming a more significant tool, but it's no silver bullet.
"But while the current popularity of prizes is facilitated by the Internet, the prize model goes way back — long before computers," Mr. Lerner observes.
Previously used by the Queen at the christening of her own sons, the pram is a prize model by the very expensive (and now defunct) brand Millsons.
"The great advantage of the prize model is that it moves work away from the realm of the beauty contest to being performance-oriented," said Michael Schrage, research fellow at the Center for Digital Business at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
President Obama attempted to apply a prize model to education reform with "Race to the Top," which doles out federal money to states that find the most innovative ways to improve academic outcomes.
That's the success of the prize model.
The X PRIZE was trailblazing the incentive prize model; even from the word "go" it couldn't be dismissed.
The Hult Prize model and the possibility of seed-funding for the winning team is one way of doing it right.
