Factory42

Factory Featured Plugin displays a set amount of posts in a loop with a custom field image and links to that post, making a gallery of images linked to the posts.
Has configurable settings, such as; 
* Image Width and Height 
* Set the category to pull posts from 
* Set the amount of posts to show.
Nice and easy way to present a certain category of posts in a widget area. Have a look at the Sceenshots to get a better idea of what it looks like.

Featured Factory

Displays a set amount of posts in block with custom field images. Configurable from the Widgets panel.

Aaron Brazell

Users can designate a specific keyword that will be used in providing featured content. If you have ever seen a breaking news alert on, say, CNN.com, then you can possibly see the value of keyword based “content floating”. Need everything tagged ‘Mumbai’ to show up as ‘featured’? What about ‘Red Sox’ around World Series time? This will take some of the hand-rolling currently necessary out of designating featured articles.
<h3>Self Serving Stuff</h3>
This plugin was created by Aaron Brazell of <a href="http://technosailor.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Technosailor.com</a>. I will often write about WordPress as well as other interesting things in the business, technology and entrepreneurship world. You should subscribe.

WP-SmartFeatures

Provides user-designated keyword info to determine featured articles.

Featured Factory vs WP-SmartFeatures