While we wait, I thought it might be fun to look at some wondrous items in the SRD as though they were entrants in the contest, and pretend to be judges.
First, some losers:
Bag of Holding: Incredibly popular, but essentially a very prosaic item. The fixed weight is a nice mechanic. The interactions with the Portable Hole are needlessly-convoluted. The aura of conjuration is a bit strange. All in all, I'd say the Handy Haversack is a better superstar. Thumbs down.
Belt of Dwarvenkind: Thematically pure, but there's an awful lot going on with this one. Too much, in my opinion. Compared to other items that provide darkvision, I think it's underpriced. The aura of divination borders on bizarre. I kinda like the idea but I don't like this implementation. Thumbs down.
And some winners:
Dust of Dryness: A clever little item with some clever uses. I like the theme here and how it is used. The abilities show a nice variety, with a combat application and a non-combat application. As a DM who knows a character has this, I can think up some locations and encounters that would bring it into play. And as a one-charge item (more or less) it's reasonably-priced and won't break the game. Thumbs up.
Glove of Storing: A good simple idea that is well-implemented. It might be a bit overpriced -- I'd let this into my game priced at one or two thousand, I think. As a DM, I can think of some good uses a villain could put this to. Appeals to a wide variety of character concepts. Thumbs up.
Feel free to play along, everyone!
Cheers,
Roger