Mormon of the Year

Update: Nominations for 2013 Mormon of the Year

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For the past two weeks readers have made nominations and seconded nominations for the 2013 Mormon of the Year designation. So that the status of nominations and seconds are clear, I’ve compiled the list below of those who have been nominated and seconded (and who will therefore appear on the popular vote ballot), those who have been nominated, but not seconded. Please see the original post for rules and qualifications.

Despite the fact that several nominations and seconds were made anonymously or using obvious pseudonyms, enough valid nominations and seconds were received (I seconded several myself that I thought were worthy) that no names needed to be thrown out.

Now is your chance to make sure the candidate you favor actually makes the ballot. Please review the rules, and you can make nominations or second nominations either below or on the original post.

Remember, those who have been nominated and seconded DO NOT need additional seconds or expressions of support!! You will be able to vote starting January 1st.

Nominated and Seconded (will appear on the ballot):

  • Ezekiel Ansah–5th pick in the 2013 NFL draft, despite the fact that prior to 2010 (or so) he had never played a football game in his life.
  • Jodi Arias — dominated the headlines for the first five months of the year like no other Mormon has all year. Arias was convicted May 8th of the murder of her duplicitous LDS boyfriend, Travis Alexander.
  • Orson Scott Card — LDS Author whose award-winning novel Ender’s Game was made into a movie released this year. Card’s views on homosexuality have led to calls for a boycott of the movie.
  • Clayton Christensen — Former Area Authority Seventy was named “world’s top management thinker” this year for the second time.
  • Brandon Flowers — No Mormon has had more international visibility for many years and this is very much ongoing in 2013 as he performed in numerous countries. As I was writing this comment, Brandon is again performing at the Wembley stadion in London in front of 80,000 fans… Millions of his fans know he is Mormon. I’m Brandon Flowers and I’m a Mormon has been viewed close to a million times.
  • Al Fox — the “tattooed Mormon;” influential tattooed covert and blog and YouTube personality
  • Terryl and Fiona Givens — authors of “The God Who Weep” who organized, with Richard Bushman, a series of conferences in locations around the U.S. to address doubts of many members.
  • Darius Gray — LDS author known for exploring race issues.
  • The Genesis Group — African-American social group based in Salt Lake City.
  • Lars Peter Hansen — professor of economics at Chicago and winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for 2013.
  • Richard Hansen — Dr. Hansen, of the FARES foundation, has contributed significantly to the rewriting of our understanding of the Maya preclassic with is work at El Mirador
  • Imagine Dragons — for releasing two top 10 singles (Radioactive and Demons) and winning Favorite Alternative Rock Artist at the American Music Awards.
  • Kate Kelly — founder of Ordain Women
  • LDS Feminists – OrdainWomen, Let Women Pray, Wear Pants Day
  • Mike Lee — U.S. Senator notable this year for his involvement with the right wing of the Republican party.
  • Hans Mattsson — Swedish former Area Authority who talked publicly about his faith crisis with the New York Times.
  • Jabari Parker — Highly regarded basketball player currently playing for Duke.
  • Daniel C. Peterson — made headlines for his controversial exit from the Maxwell Institute in 2012.
  • Ordain Women — group that organized almost 200 women and men who faithfully waited in line to gain entry into the priesthood session on October 5.
  • Harry Reid — U.S. Senate Majority Leader who triggered the nuclear option, allowing confirmation of nominees by the Senate with just a majority instead of 60 votes. This rule change will have repercussions for decades.
  • Clinton Romesha – LDS Soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Kamdesh
  • Yeah Samake — founder of Mali Rising Foundation and a candidate in Mali’s 2013 presidential elections.
  • Brandon Sanderson — prolific science fiction and fantasy author who won the Hugo prize this year.
  • Elizabeth Smart — in the news because her memoir, “My Story” was released this year.
  • Denver C. Snuffer, Jr — LDS author of doctrinal books, whose excommunication this year was in the news and got atttention on the bloggernacle.
  • Manti Te’o — second-up runner for the Heisman and and victim of a fake girlfriend scam that was huge news early in the year.
  • Geoff Openshaw & Al Doan of the This Week in Mormons podcast
  • Margaret Young — LDS author and BYU professor know for discussing race issues
  • Clark Waddoups — Federal judge who ruled on December 13th that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the U.S. constitution.
  • David White — president of the Oregon Peace Officers Association during 2012-2013.

Nominated (need to be seconded):

  • Affirmation — a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons
  • Pete Ashdown — founder and CEO of Utah’s oldest Internet service provider, XMission, who denied the NSA unwarranted access to XMission user data.
  • Claudia Bushman — who has been in the news for her work at Claremont Graduate University and for “Mormon Women Have Their Say.”
  • Joanna Brooks — author and professor known for her memoir “Book of Mormon Girl” and for her examination of Mormonism for Religion Dispatches.
  • Maxine Hanks — One of the ‘September Six’ excommunicated in 1993 who made headlines this year when she was rebaptized.
  • Bryce Harper — baseball player with the Washington Nationals.
  • Warren Jeffs — FLDS Church president, currently in prison for sexual assault
  • The Joseph Smith Papers project team — for publishing the first two volumes of the Documents series
  • Joni Hilton – author, radio host and former Miss California whose controversial column “are you a liberal Mormon” was disavowed by its publisher after hundreds of readers complained.
  • LDS Historians – basically, whoever is writing the new topical guide entries for the church
  • Carlos “Wizard” Martins — Brazilian multi-millionaire who sold his Wizard chain of language schools, confirming his place among the richest people on the planet.
  • Ben McAdams — SLC county mayor.
  • Mormon Missionaries who died in the field — at least a dozen this year.
  • Mormons Against Mormons With Unrighteous Opinions about Women’s Ordination
  • Mormons Against Women Praying in General Conference
  • Mormons Against Women Wearing Pants to Church
  • Jana Riess — LDS author and religion blogger who this year released “The Twible,” a compilation of her daily tweets of a chapter of the bible.
  • John L. Sorenson — author of a major work on Mesoamerican convergences with Book of Mormon lands: Mormon’s Codex.
  • Paul Walker — demonstrated the best of a successful actor giving back to the world with gentle kindness, non-pretentious work ethic, dedication to charitable causes–all accomplished having navigated the course as a non-practicing Mormon. [Walker was killed in a car accident November 30th.]
  • Wear Pants to Church group

 

9 comments for “Update: Nominations for 2013 Mormon of the Year”

  1. If I were inclined to vote for Kate Kelly or Ordain Women or “LDS Feminists,” I would probably object to having three separate lines on the ballot, which will likely dilute the vote tally for each of them. Of course the permabloggers can take all that into account when they make their decision, but I suspect that voters enjoy the illusion that the election has not been stacked in any way.

  2. Waddoups’ ruling was in a polygamy case and not a gay marriage one. Judge Richard Shelby’s ruling in the gay marriage case was that Utah’s Amendment 3 violated the constitution. Perhaps both judges should be on the list.

  3. I second Maxine Hanks. She provides a wonderful example of how a member of intellect can openly speak their mind and face opposition from church leaders who disagree with their views, and yet maintain their principles, humbly recognize their own weakness, and continue to serve in whatever avenues are available. In the years to come, I believe we will often use her example to show church members (particularly the youth) how they can successfully navigate and embrace the LDS experience.

  5. I second John L. Sorenson. Mormon’s Codex was an excellent piece of work, and a fitting capstone to his decades of work.

  7. I second the Joseph Smith Papers project team. Celebrities, politicians, and even individual academics come and go, but the volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers will be shaping Mormonism for generations, particularly since the project has the full support of the Church hierarchy. It heralds a new era of openness and responsibility to historical evidence that has already borne fruit in the Gospel Topics entries at lds.org. Barring dramatic changes in the role of women in the Church (which I don’t really expect at this point), in a couple of decades we’ll look back at 2013 as the year when the Joseph Smith Papers project really came into its own.

  8. I think Clayton Christensen is a good choice. Also note that he has written a book entitled, The Power of Everyday Missionaries: the What and How of Sharing the Gospel. It seems to promote a more effective way of doing missionary work form his years of experience in the effort. It probably also reflects some of his ideas on innovation. I bet it will become another LDS classic.

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