Time magazine has announced the contenders for its 2016 Person of the Year. The 11 finalists are selected by the magazine's editors, and the person who takes out the title will be "the person who most influenced the news, for better or for worse".
Here are the candidates:
Simone Biles
Simone was part of a gold medal-winning team dubbed the 'Final Five' at the Rio Olympics (Getty)
Ms Biles made headlines all over the world and became a social media sensation after her haul of medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. At just 19 years old, she took home four gold medals and one bronze at her Olympic debut, cementing her place as the best gymnast in the world. Then, to top it all off, Zac Efron paid her a surprise visit at the Olympics - another dream come true.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton didn't take the presidency, but she won the popular vote (Getty)
Hillary Clinton, the first woman to ever receive the United States presidential nomination, was impossible to ignore in her race against the polarising Donald Trump. She could have made history as the first female US president, but in the end was trumped in what was a shock result to many.
CRISPR Scientists
DNA editing could mean a transformation in how we treat incurable diseases (Getty)
Scientists developed a technology that can edit DNA. Time says the technique has the potential to "transform science and the human experience, as it could be used to find and remove mutations responsible for incurable diseases". CRISPR (pronounced crisper), stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats". A scientist took out the Person of the Year title in 1996, for their efforts towards AIDS research.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
A state of emergency was declared in Turkey earlier this year after a military coup (Getty)
The President of Turkey has made headlines this year: he's has fired countless state employees, shut down media organisations, and arrested his opponents, in a crackdown after a failed military coup back in July.
Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage was a prominent supporter of Brexit, he then jumped ship after the result (Reuters)
The former head of the UK Independence Party was the man associated with building momentum for the 'Brexit' campaign, after which Britain voted to leave the European Union. He's a big supporter of Donald Trump, and Mr Trump himself has tweeted that the UK should make Mr Farage its ambassador to the United States. Mr Farage gave up his leadership role after the Brexit vote.
The Flint Whistleblowers
Thousands have been affected by the contamination of Flint River in Michigan (Getty)
In Flint, Michigan, a group of residents raised a red flag about a water contamination crisis affecting thousands of people. They revealed their water supply was improperly treated, leaving it with large-scale lead contamination. Local civil engineering professor Marc Edwards blew the whistle, backed up by paediatrician Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha who tested kids to prove they had been poisoned.
Beyonce Knowles
Beyonce during a performance in support of Hillary Clinton's campaign (Getty)
Beyonce stunned the world this year when she dropped Lemonade, a visual album with countless high-profile collaborators that sparked rumours it was inspired by her husband Jay Z being unfaithful. Time says she has stunned audiences by "using her platform to speak out about racial injustice, police violence and feminism". Beyonce was openly supportive of Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi has high hopes for India's future on the world stage (Reuters)
The Indian Prime Minister made a stir in the global economy this year. Time says he's guided India into position as the "emerging-market world's most positive story". Mr Modi says India will continue to rise and "the 21st century will be India's century". Prime Minister John Key visited India in September to talk trade with Mr Modi, despite a few hurdles getting there.
Vladimir Putin
It'll be the second win for Vladimir Putin if he takes out Person of the Year this year (Reuters)
The Russian President is a powerful leader, who was Time's Person of the Year in 2007. This year he's been a fixture of international news due to his country's intervention in the Syrian Civil War and its ongoing support of the Syrian government. Russia was accused of influencing the US election through a series of cyber attacks against Democratic Party nominations, which Mr Putin denies.
Donald Trump
Trump's campaign promises including building a wall along the Mexican border and banning Muslim immigration (Getty)
Donald Trump frequently caused widespread outrage during his campaign as the Republican US presidential candidate, but went on to defeat Hillary Clinton and will become the 45th President of the United States. Time says he "repeatedly broke with political precedent" in his campaign. His media-sceptic supporters lashed out at Newshub political editor Patrick Gower at a Trump campaign rally.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg has an estimated net worth of over 49 billion USD (Getty)
Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has led the company to a milestone of 1 billion mobile daily users, Time says, but he's not been without controversy. An epidemic of fake news spread through social media and particularly Facebook during the United States election, and the company has faced heat for not paying its fair share of tax - including from our own Prime Minister John Key.
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