James Taft “Jimmer” Fredette began 2011 leading BYU’s basketball team to the NCAA championships, leading many to expect that the team might make the later rounds of the playoffs. While those hopes were unrealized (in part due to the sudden withdrawal of BYU’s next most important player, Brandon Davies), BYU’s performance in the tournament set a high point that hasn’t been rivaled by a BYU team since 1981, and Jimmer earned every major National Player of the Year honor, including the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, and the Oscar Robertson Trophy.

After finishing the season and graduating, Fredette was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks, who promptly traded him to the Sacramento Kings as part of a previously arranged deal. Although his first season was cut short by the basketball strike this past year, Fredette played his first game December 17th. He is currently the only Mormon playing in the NBA.

Central to Fredette’s impact is his popularity among Mormons, which was so strong that it attracted national attention, coining terms like “Jimmermania.” Particularly fascinating, in our social-networking informed world, were the reactions to an early February Facebook post attacking Jimmermania, which extended to something like 600 comments in less than 10 hours (250 in one hour alone — see the archive here – no, I didn’t count them). The thread itself was mentioned on ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Yahoo, the Deseret News and dozens of sports websites and blogs.

Like our selection of Elizabeth Smart last year, Jimmer is still young and has many years ahead of him. While his performance in the NBA hasn’t gained him much of a following outside of BYU fans, he can reasonably be expected to play in the NBA for years to come.

The Mormon of the Year designation is a recognition of the effect that a person or group has had during the past year. It is not a prize or award, so nothing of value is being given to anyone as a result of this designation, and it is not necessarily meant to honor the person or persons recognized, so no effort will be made to contact or notify Jimmer.

We were very pleased by the interest in selecting the Mormon of the Year. Times and Seasons readers nominated 21 possible candidates in addition to the original 5. We learned a lot from those nominations, especially the range of our readers’ beliefs and feelings. Some of the Mormons we learned have done significant things and deserve to be on a list of possible Mormons of the Year.

The LDS Church’s First Presidency (including the Prophet) and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were excluded from nominations.

We also appreciate those who participated in our online vote or commented on the nominations, which taught us a lot about the passion that many people have for those that they admire. Nearly 600 people voted in our poll (up substantially from last year), including many readers new to Times and Seasons. We hope that those who dropped by enjoyed Times and Seasons and will visit us again.

Please plan on participating in next year’s Mormon of the Year nominations. I’m sure that many of the nominees will show up next year, and those of us who were unfamiliar with some of the nominees can use that time to become more familiar with them. Certainly we will re-nominate some of them next year. And, as we discovered this year, the changing nominations make the selection process very different each year.

The voting mechanism will attempt to restrict votes to one per person.

The order of the choices is set at random, and is different each time the form is presented.

THE WINNER OF THE ONLINE VOTE IS NOT NECESSARILY THE MORMON OF THE YEAR!!!

The results of the vote will be considered by the bloggers and editors here at Times & Seasons (and anyone we invite to participate) as part of the process of choosing a Mormon of the Year. I imagine that the results will likely be the deciding factor in anything close to a tie, for example, as well as in any number of possible scenarios.

BECAUSE OF THIS, PLEASE VOTE! We will announce, in any case, the results of the online vote, as well as any indication we have that voting was stacked, fraudulent or otherwise problematic. So please, vote only once.

Feel free to announce the vote where ever you wish. Since many have asked, non-Mormons are free to vote (I can’t see how we could prevent non-Mormons if we wished to anyway).

But above all, please use judgement. Remember this is NOT about popularity. It IS about judging the impact that these nominees had on the world and on Mormonism.

If you need further information about any of the nominees, please take a look at the post in which the nominations were discussed or the follow up post on the nominations.

[The vote is being collected by third-party software. Please let us know of any problems you encounter.]

With the impending vote, most Mormons may assume that Mitt Romney is the clear favorite. He has been the most consistent front runner for the Republican nomination for President this year, and his views may be most consistent with those of most Mormons. So why vote for Jon Huntsman, Jr.…

… for Mormon of the Year?

I think that the reason Jon Huntsman should be considered Mormon of the Year is his role in what has been called the “Mormon Moment.” We’ve seen Romney before. Alone, while Romney did garner a lot of attention when he ran in 2008, he didn’t gain as much attention as the combination of Romney and Huntsman does this time. Along with The Book of Mormon musical, Huntsman has simply added enough national attention to make the moment more than what we say in 2008. Simply put, without Huntsman, we might be seeing the same thing we saw in 2008.

There are, of course, other attractions to Huntsman. His style is certainly more hip than Romney’s. His daughters have given him unique attention among the presidential candidates, with their tweets and social media exploits. And his more centrist positions make him much more palatable for the general election.

I don’t know if that is enough to consider Huntsman the Mormon of the Year, but I think it is a good argument. Without Huntsman, would we have had as big a “Mormon Moment?”

Nominated and seconded:

• Stephen B. Allen — managing director of the Church’s missionary department and executive director of the “I’m a Mormon” campaign. I think this campaign has had a bigger impact both in and outside the church than anything else we’ve done in recent history. [2 results on Google News]
• Joanna Brooks—Brooks gained prominence this year as a religion and political commentator through her widely-read column on Religion Dispatches. For many non-Mormons she has made Mormonism approachable and understandable. [9 results on Google News]
• Presiding Bishop H. David Burton—”for his articulate and clear support for the immigration reform bill, which demonstrates a balanced and compassionate approach that many thought never could be attained. Not only did it instantly became a model for other states to follow, but it created a 180 degree turn in how many in the church approached immigration, and arguably sealed the defeat of Russel Pearce in Arizona.” [8 results on Google News]
• Brandon Davies—BYU Basketball player who was dismissed from the team for violating the school’s honor code, leading to a media frenzy over the honor code. Davies apologized to his teammates, accepted his discipline and eventually returned to BYU. [747 results on Google News]
• Jimmer Fredette — A hugely popular star basketball player at BYU, Jimmer led BYU deep into the NCAA championship during his final season with the team, and then was drafted into the NBA, ending up on the Sacramento Kings. [2,120 results on Google News]
• Will Hopoate — Despite a promising start to a hugely lucrative professional rugby career in Australia, Hopoate stunned fans down under when he announced he would pass on a contract worth millions and serve an LDS mission during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The move gave Hopoate notoriety worldwide and among Mormons in the U.S. [85 results on Google News]
• Jon Huntsman, Jr. — Former Utah Governor and U.S. Ambassador to China, Huntsman formally entered the race for the Republican nomination for President this year, creating, for the first time, a presidential race with two Mormon candidates and significantly increasing the notoriety of what has been called the “Mormon Moment.” [9,450 results on Google News]
• Jerry Lewis—A political unknown before this year, Lewis defeated Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, in effect mitigating the connection between Arizona’s harsh anti-immigration law and Mormonism.  [68 results on Google News]
• Stephenie Meyer – Like or hate her books, she is certainly the face of Mormonism among many people around the world, especially this year, with the success of the Twilight movies in theaters and news articles frequently mentioning her religion. [2,090 results on Google News]
• Neon Trees—Provo, Utah-based alternative rock band whose records include at least one platinum single, three singles that have made it into the top 40. The band gained national attention when it opened for The Killers. [84 results on Google News]
• Michael Otterson—The Director of Public Affairs for the Church, Otterson has been the public face of the Church and has received notice for his columns on the Washington Post’s On Faith blog. [6 results on Google News]
• Participants in the “I’m a Mormon” campaign—One of the significant elements of this year’s “Mormon Moment,” the “I’m a Mormon” campaign has attempted to show non-Mormons that Church members are just like everyone else.  [15 results on Google News]
• Mitt Romney—A previous Mormon of the Year (2008), Romney has been the front-runner for the GOP nomination for President of the United States. [26,900 results on Google News]
• Yeah Samake—Malian LDS Church member and BYU grad who is the leading candidate for President of Mali. Samake has been mayor of the city of Oulessebougou. [2 results on Google News]
• Rachel Vermillion—The BYU-Idaho student who was refused admittance to the on-campus testing center because she was wearing “skinny jeans” or because she looked “too curvy.”  [1 result on Google News]

Nominated, needs second:

• Brandon Flowers— [706 results on Google News]
• Johnny Whitaker— [8 results on Google News]
• Nate Oman— [no results on Google News]
• Matt Bowman— [37 results on Google News]
• Obert Skye (believed to be the pen name of Robert Farrell Smith)— [no results on Google News]
• Kevin Kloosterman— [no results on Google News]

If it is correct, then its kind of surprising. Ten years ago there were five Mormons playing in the NBA: Shawn Bradley, Travis Knight, Mark Madsen, Scot Pollard and Mark Pope. In contrast, other sports seem to have either a stable or an increasing number of Mormons. Baseball has had about 9 or 10 active players for the past decade, Football has had dozens of Mormons playing each year (34 this season) during that time and even relatively small and foreign sports, such as Rugby, have more active Mormon players than basketball does now! The only major sport that may have fewer Mormons playing professionally than basketball is soccer, as far as I can tell.

Why is this so? I suspect the answer lies in several facts. Perhaps most importantly, the size of basketball teams is relatively small—15 at most—compared with baseball (40 max) and football (75). [The total number of teams in the NBA, MLB and NFL is nearly identical. (The NFL has two more than the others)]. Meanwhile, Basketball has substantially increased in popularity compared to the others, making competition for the few spots on NBA teams hypercompetitive in comparison. And, perhaps most importantly, the traditional college teams for Mormon players (BYU, Utah, USU, etc.) simply haven’t recently produced NBA caliber players (at least not at the current standards until Jimmer) from what I can see. [I should note that I don't really follow basketball, so other opinions on this point may be more valid. Please feel free to set me straight.]

Despite all of this, I should mention that there are other Mormons playing professional basketball — just not in the NBA. In my notes I’ve found three:

• Chris Burgess—Currently with the Trefl basektball club of Sopot, Poland, Burgess has made an almost decade-long career hopping between various teams in leagues around the world.
• Lee Cummard—Playing in Japan on the Kyoto Hammaryz after playing for the NBA Development League’s Utah Flash and a summer at Alba Berlin in 2010.
• Jonathan Tavernari—A Brazilian, Tavernari joined the Brazilian National Team in 2009 after leaving BYU and landed a position on the Italian team Pallacanestro Biella.

There is also some reason to hope for future Mormon NBA players, given the hype surrounding some college and high school Mormons, such as:

•  Brandon Davies—Back on BYU’s team after his highly publicized suspension earlier this year during the NCAA tournament, Davies is likely the most promising player on BYU’s team this year. But whether he is good enough to pass the NBA draft.
• Graham Hatch—After leading the Witchita State Shockers to the NIT championship and being named Division 1-AAA scholar athlete last year, Hatch seems as likely as anyone to get picked up as a non-draft player in the NBA Development League.
• Stilman White—While just a freshman at UNC, the hype around Stilman White is already near NBA levels. But given his plans to serve an LDS mission, White’s NBA potential is still years away.
• Jabari Parker—If White’s potential is years away, then Parker’s potential is really a long way off, since he is still a junior in high school. But he is a much-talked-about junior who was recently awarded USA Basketball’s Male Athlete of the Year.

So, if Jimmer is the only Mormon in the NBA, perhaps he won’t be alone too long. And given the popularity of basketball, its not hard to see how getting there is the kind of thing that could make him the Mormon of the Year.

For those who don’t remember, T&S selected Mitt Romney as the Mormon of the Year for 2008, Harry Reid for 2009, and Elizabeth Smart for 2010. As in the past, the choice does not mean that the person is a good Mormon or even a good person. This designation is solely about the impact the person has had.

Note: We have made one major change to the nomination procedure: Nominations must be seconded! We hope this will make sure that nominations are serious, and not in jest as some have been in the past.

I think the other ground rules are basically the same as in the past (suggestions about changes to the rules are welcome – we try to improve the rules each year):

• Nominees must be Mormon somehow — nominees must have been baptized and must claim to be Mormon.
• Nominees must have been living at some point during the year.
• The LDS Church First Presidency (including the Prophet) and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are not eligible (because they would win every year, making the selection pointless).
• Nominees must have had enough of an impact to have made the news during the year.
• Collective nominees (i.e., all those who did x) are welcome.

Please do not try to vote YET!! We’re just calling for nominations at this point. Voting will begin January 1st.

When you nominate someone, please provide a link to somewhere (such as wikipedia, news stories, etc.) where we can get further information on them). AND, please give us some rationale for why you think this person should be Mormon of the Year. We will also look at the number of hits on Google News (http://news.google.com) that each nominee has.

You can make nominations in the comments to this post until New Year’s Eve. During that time, we will try to post profiles of the major nominees. If you would like to submit your own profile of any nominee not yet profiled, we will consider posting it here. We hope that these profiles will provide additional information on the nominees.

Starting January 1st, visitors to Times & Seasons will be able to indicate their preference in an online poll. However, the final selection of Mormon of the Year will be made by the permanent bloggers here on Times and Seasons. There is no prize or award associated with this selection, nor will we make any formal presentation or even notification to the person or persons selected.

I look forward to seeing the nominees and selection this year. An election year in the U.S. always leads to new faces in the news, Mormons who have had a great impact or influence on Mormons and Mormonism during 2009.

Here are my own nominations:

• Jon Huntsman, Jr. — Former Utah Governor and U.S. Ambassador to China, Huntsman formally entered the race for the Republican nomination for President this year, creating, for the first time, a presidential race with two Mormon candidates and significantly increasing the notoriety of what has been called the “Mormon Moment.” [9,450 results on Google News]
• Jimmer Fredette — A hugely popular star basketball player at BYU, Jimmer led BYU deep into the NCAA championship during his final season with the team, and then was drafted into the NBA, ending up on the Sacramento Kings. [2,120 results on Google News]
• Will Hopoate — Despite a promising start to a hugely lucrative professional rugby career in Australia, Hopoate stunned fans down under when he announced he would pass on a contract worth millions and serve an LDS mission during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The move gave Hopoate notoriety worldwide and among Mormons in the U.S. [85 results on Google News]
• Stephenie Meyer – Like or hate her books, she is certainly the face of Mormonism among many people around the world, especially this year, with the success of the Twilight movies in theaters and news articles frequently mentioning her religion. [2,090 results on Google News]

And one nomination from my fellow blogger, James Olsen, sent to me by email earlier this year:

• Stephen B. Allen — managing director of the Church’s missionary department and executive director of the “I’m a Mormon” campaign. I think this campaign has had a bigger impact both in and outside the church than anything else we’ve done in recent history.

I’m certain that I’ve left out many people who have had a significant impact. That is why we open the nominations to you, our readers. Please help us nominate those who have had a significant impact.

Elizabeth Smart has been in the public eye this year in the United States and around the world as the chief witness in the trial of Brian David Mitchell, who abducted her in 2002. And her testimony gave her significant influence, despite her apparent distance from the spotlight while serving on an LDS mission during 2010. In her testimony, Smart showed a poise and decorum that is rarely found among private individuals thrust into the public spotlight.

Central to Smart’s impact is her religion. Mormonism was part of what the public knew about her from the beginning, and was part of the story of her testimony at the trial. While Smart’s impact is rooted in her abduction, and thus in being a victim, in succeeding years she has also become known for her own actions — for her activism in favor of Sexual Predator legislation and the AMBER Alert system, and in support of kidnapping victims. More recently, she is also known for serving an LDS mission, where she is giving a very different kind of testimony.

Her impact is particularly notable because it has spread so widely around the world, in contrast to that of other nominees. Many in the public around the world not only know Smart’s story but know that she is Mormon. Her story has appeared in thousands of articles and media presentations worldwide since 2003, inspiring those in far-flung countries to create websites devoted to her character. Religious sites, from various denominations, have used her as an example of hope and final victory. The Bobby Roth’s drama-documentary “The Elizabeth Smart story” has been translated in numerous languages and is still regularly shown on foreign TV-channels.

The 2010 trial has been covered by news outlets as diverse as the Norwegian Dagbladet and NRK, the German Die Welt, Bild, and Salzburger Nachrichten, the Icelandic MBL, the Estonian Ohtuleht, the Romanian EVZ, the Danish Jyllands-Posten, the Portuguese Lux, the Polish Wiadomosci, Strefa tajemnic, and Gazeta, the Slovak Noviny, the Spanish El Mundo and El Diario, the Italian Il mio giornale and Giornalettismo, the Korean Paran, the Vietnamese Xaluan, etc. Often compared to the ordeal and miraculous escape of the Austrian Natasha Kampusch, Elizabeth Smart’s story has galvanized efforts worldwide to do the utmost to search for missing children and to never give up hope.

Unlike those we have selected before, Smart is young, and still has much of her life ahead of her. News reports have covered some possible plans and career paths. It will be interesting to see what impact Smart may have in the future.

The Mormon of the Year designation is a recognition of the effect that a person or group has had during the past year. It is not a prize or award, so nothing of value is being given to anyone as a result of this designation, and it is not necessarily meant to honor the person or persons recognized, so no effort will be made to contact or notify Smart.

We were very pleased by the interest in selecting the Mormon of the Year. Times and Seasons readers nominated 23 possibilities in addition to the original 5. We learned a lot from those nominations, especially the range of our readers’ beliefs and feelings. Some of the Mormons we learned have done significant things and deserve to be on a list of possible Mormons of the Year.

The LDS Church’s First Presidency (including the Prophet) and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were excluded from nominations.

We also appreciate those who participated in our online vote or commented on the nominations, which taught us a lot about the passion that many people have for those that they admire. Nearly 500 people voted in our poll, including many readers new to Times and Seasons. We hope that those who dropped by enjoyed Times and Seasons and will visit us again.

Please plan on participating in next year’s Mormon of the Year nominations. I’m sure that many of the nominees will show up next year, and those of us who were unfamiliar with some of the nominees can use that time to become more familiar with them. Certainly we will re-nominate some of them next year. And, as we discovered this year, the changing nominations make the selection process very different each year.

The voting mechanism will attempt to restrict votes to one per person.

The order of the choices is set at random, and is different each time the form is presented.

THE WINNER OF THE ONLINE VOTE IS NOT NECESSARILY THE MORMON OF THE YEAR!!!

The results of the vote will be considered by the bloggers and editors here at Times & Seasons (and anyone we invite to participate) as part of the process of choosing a Mormon of the Year. I imagine that the results will likely be the deciding factor in anything close to a tie, for example, as well as in any number of possible scenarios.

BECAUSE OF THIS, PLEASE VOTE! We will announce, in any case, the results of the online vote, as well as any indication we have that voting was stacked, fraudulent or otherwise problematic. So please, vote only once.

Feel free to annouce the vote where ever you wish. Since many have asked, non-Mormons are free to vote (I can’t see how we could prevent non-Mormons if we wished to anyway).

But above all, please use judgement. Remember this is NOT about popularity. It IS about judging the impact that these nominees had on the world and on Mormonism.

If you need further information about any of the nominees, please take a look at the post in which the nominations were discussed.

[The vote is being collected by third-party software. Please let us know of any problems you encounter.]

Its that time of year again. The media are already reviewing the important news stories of the year, Time will soon select its Person of the Year (one Mormon — Glenn Beck — has been nominated this year); so we should get busy selecting the Mormon of the Year.

For those who don’t remember, T&S selected Mitt Romney as the Mormon of the Year for 2008, and Harry Reid for 2009. As in the past, the choice does not mean that the person is a good Mormon or even a good person. This designation is solely about the impact the person has had.

I think the ground rules are basically the same as in the past (suggestions about changes to the rules are welcome – we try to improve the rules each year):

• Nominees must be Mormon somehow — nominees must have been baptized and claim to be Mormon.
• Nominees must have been living at some point during the year.
• The LDS Church First Presidency (including the Prophet) and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are not eligible (because they would win every year, making the selection pointless).
• Nominees must have had enough of an impact to have made the news during the year.
• Collective nominees (i.e., all those who did x) are welcome.

Please do not try to  vote YET!! We’re just calling for nominations at this point. Voting will begin January 1st.

When you nominate someone, please provide a link to somewhere (such as wikipedia, news stories, etc.) where we can get further information on them). AND, please give us some rationale for why you think this person should be Mormon of the Year. We will also look at the number of hits on Google News (http://news.google.com) that each nominee has.

You can make nominations in the comments to this post until New Year’s Eve. During that time, we will try to post profiles of the major nominees. If you would like to submit your own profile of any nominee not yet profiled, we will consider posting it here. We hope that these profiles will provide additional information on the nominees.

Starting January 1st, visitors to Times & Seasons will be able to indicate their preference in an online poll. However, the final selection of Mormon of the Year will be made by the permanent bloggers here on Times and Seasons. There is no prize or award associated with this selection, nor will we make any formal presentation or even notification to the person or persons selected.

I look forward to seeing the nominees and selection this year. An election year in the U.S. always leads to new faces in the news, Mormons who have had a great impact or influence on Mormons and Mormonism during 2009.

Here are my own nominations:

• Harry Reid — As the Senate Majority Leader, it is kind of hard to ignore Reid, since he is the highest ranking Mormon in government ever. He also provides a nice antidote to the assumption that Mormons must be Republicans (to say nothing of the fact that his politics are probably more in line with the vast majority of Mormons — when you take into account those that do not live in the United States). [26,000 results on Google News]
• Glenn Beck – High-profile TV talk show host on Fox News has been perhaps the most controversial TV personality during the past year. [7,580 results on Google News]
• Stephenie Meyer – Like or hate her books, she is certainly the face of Mormonism among many people around the world, especially this year, with the first Twilight movie in theaters and news articles frequently mentioning her religion. [5,050 results on Google News]
• Elizabeth Smart – In the spotlight again because of the trial of her abductor, Smart showed composure and dignity in the national spotlight. [9,100 results on Google News]
• Russell Pearce — The Arizona State Senate President-elect made national headlines as the lead sponsor of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration bill, SB1070. [1,450 results on Google News]

I’m certain that I’ve left out many people who have had a significant impact. That is why we open the nominations to you, our readers. Please help us nominate those who have had a significant impact.

As of January 1st, we have closed nominations and comments to this post. Please see the poll post to vote and make further comments.

Image: Wikipedia

Times and Seasons has selected Harry Reid as Mormon of the Year for 2009.

During 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was the most visible and influential Mormon politician in the world, shepherding Democratic legislative proposals through the U.S. Senate after the party’s victories in the 2008 elections, including a landmark health care bill that represents one of the more controversial pieces of legislation to pass through the Senate in recent memory. Reid’s off-the-cuff style has also led occasionally to unscripted remarks that have attracted a lot of attention.

While Reid’s faith is not always discussed as much as that of other Mormon politicians, he remains an active member of his ward. In recent years he has helped the Church on some crucial issues, including helping to broker a compromise over Martin’s Cove. Reid spoke openly about his faith in a 2007 address at Brigham Young University and touched on his conversion and beliefs in his recently published memoir. A fixture in Nevada politics who has dedicated his life to public service for decades, Reid has long advocated that one can consistently be both a Democrat and a Mormon.

President Barack Obama meets with (from left) Senator Harry Reid, Joshua DuBois, President Thomas S. Monson and Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the Oval Office. © Official White House Photograph by Pete Souza

Times and Seasons has covered Harry Reid before. You can see a list of posts that mention Reid here. However, given Reid’s continuing political position and assumed aspirations, this recognition should not be seen as an endorsement of his political positions or aspirations.

The Mormon of the Year designation is a recognition of the effect that the person or group of persons recognized has had during the past year. It is not a prize or award, so nothing of value is being given to anyone as a result of this designation, and it is not necessarily meant to honor the person or persons recognized, so no effort will be made to contact or notify Reid.

We were very pleased by the interest in selecting the Mormon of the Year. The Times and Seasons readers nominated 20 possibilities in addition to the original 5 in the post. We learned a lot from those nominations, especially the range of our readers’ beliefs and feelings. We even learned about some Mormons who have done significant things and really deserve to be on a list of possible Mormons of the Year.

The LDS Church’s First Presidency (including the Prophet) and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were excluded from nominations because their overwhelming influence would mean their selection every year. In many ways each of them, and especially the Prophet, are always the Mormon of the Year.

We also appreciate those who dropped by and participated in our online vote, which taught us a lot about the passion that many people have for their friends and those that they admire. Nearly 2,000 people voted in our poll, often coming from outside the bloggernacle, from fan sites associated with some of those nominated. We hope that those who dropped by enjoyed Times and Seasons and will drop by again.

Please plan on participating in next year’s Mormon of the Year nominations and designation. I’m sure that many of the nominees will show up in next year’s process, and those of us who were unfamiliar with some of the nominees can use that time to become more familiar with them. Certainly we will re-nominate some of them next year, if others do not. And, as we discovered this year, each year is very different, bringing a different mix of both news and candidates.