{"id":18135,"date":"2011-12-18T20:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T01:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=18135"},"modified":"2011-12-18T20:05:56","modified_gmt":"2011-12-19T01:05:56","slug":"mormon-of-the-year-nomination-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2011\/12\/mormon-of-the-year-nomination-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Mormon of the Year Nomination Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We opened <a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2011\/12\/nominate-the-2011-mormon-of-the-year\/\">nominations for <em>Mormon of the Year<\/em> 2011<\/a> on December 9th. To keep everyone up to date, here are the nominations so far. Nominations remain open through December 31st, and a public vote on the candidates will begin January 1st. Feel free to make additional nominations or second any of those that have not yet been seconded, if you think they are worthy.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>Nominated and seconded:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/11\/18\/us\/mormon-ad-campaign-seeks-to-improve-perceptions.html?_r=1\">Stephen B. Allen<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 managing director of the Church\u2019s missionary department and executive director of the \u201cI\u2019m a Mormon\u201d campaign. I think this campaign has had a bigger impact both in and outside the church than anything else we\u2019ve done in recent history. [2 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.samake2012.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joanna Brooks<\/a>\u2014Brooks gained prominence this year as a religion and political commentator through her widely-read column on\u00a0Religion Dispatches. For many non-Mormons she has made Mormonism approachable and understandable. [9 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/H._David_Burton\" target=\"_blank\">Presiding Bishop H. David Burton<\/a>\u2014&#8221;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.&#8221; [8 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brandon_Davies\" target=\"_blank\">Brandon Davies<\/a>\u2014BYU Basketball player who was dismissed from the team for violating the school&#8217;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.\u00a0[747 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jon_Huntsman,_Jr.\">Jimmer Fredette<\/a> \u2014 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]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Will_Hopoate\">Will Hopoate<\/a> \u2014 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]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jon_Huntsman,_Jr.\">Jon Huntsman, Jr.<\/a> \u2014 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 \u201cMormon Moment.\u201d [9,450 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0711\/59944_Page4.html\" target=\"_blank\">Jerry Lewis<\/a>\u2014A political unknown before this year, Lewis defeated Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, in effect mitigating the connection between Arizona&#8217;s harsh anti-immigration law and Mormonism.\u00a0 [68 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stephanie_Meyer\" rel=\"nofollow\">Stephenie Meyer<\/a> \u2013 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]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/11\/18\/us\/mormon-ad-campaign-seeks-to-improve-perceptions.html?_r=1\">Neon Trees<\/a>\u2014Provo, 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 <em>The Killers<\/em>. [84 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/onfaith.washingtonpost.com\/onfaith\/panelists\/michael_otterson\/\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Otterson<\/a>\u2014The 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&#8217;s On Faith blog. [6 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/11\/18\/us\/mormon-ad-campaign-seeks-to-improve-perceptions.html?pagewanted=all\">Participants in the &#8220;I&#8217;m a Mormon&#8221; campaign<\/a>\u2014One of the significant elements of this year&#8217;s &#8220;Mormon Moment,&#8221; the &#8220;I&#8217;m a Mormon&#8221; campaign has attempted to show non-Mormons that Church members are just like everyone else.\u00a0 [15 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brandon_Davies\" target=\"_blank\">Mitt Romney<\/a>\u2014A previous <em>Mormon of the Year<\/em> (2008), Romney has been the front-runner for the GOP nomination for President of the United States.\u00a0[26,900 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.samake2012.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yeah Samake<\/a>\u2014Malian 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]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/blogs\/headlines\/2011\/12\/skinny-jeans-too-suggestive-for-mormon-college\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rachel Vermillion<\/a>\u2014The BYU-Idaho student who was refused admittance to the on-campus testing center because she was wearing &#8220;skinny jeans&#8221; or because she looked &#8220;too curvy.&#8221;\u00a0 [1 result on Google News]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Nominated, needs second:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Brandon Flowers\u2014 [706 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li>Johnny Whitaker\u2014 [8 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li>Nate Oman\u2014 [no results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li>Matt Bowman\u2014 [37 results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li>Obert Skye (believed to be the pen name of Robert Farrell Smith)\u2014 [no results on Google News]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mormonstories.org\/?p=2179\">Kevin Kloosterman<\/a>\u2014 [no results on Google News]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We opened nominations for Mormon of the Year 2011 on December 9th. To keep everyone up to date, here are the nominations so far. Nominations remain open through December 31st, and a public vote on the candidates will begin January 1st. Feel free to make additional nominations or second any of those that have not yet been seconded, if you think they are worthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mormon-of-the-year-features"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18135"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18144,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18135\/revisions\/18144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}