On Tuesday morning, TIME magazine's short list of eight potential choices for its iconic Person of the Year cover was revealed live on TODAY. The list includes Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!; Mohammed Morsi, president of Egypt; Undocumented Americans; Bill and Hillary Clinton; President Barack Obama; Malala Yousafzai, the student activist from Pakistan who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban; Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple; and the Higgs Boson and Italian physicist Fabiola Giannati.
As it has for the past 85 years, the weekly newsmagazine will select the person (or sometimes group, or thing) that its editors deem had the single greatest impact during the past year, for better or for worse. Last year's choice was The Protester.
Some 5.6 million people have already voted in TIME's reader poll. On Dec. 13, TIME revealed that the winner was Kim Jong Un, supreme leader of North Korea.
Also in the top 10 in TIME's reader poll: funnyman Jon Stewart; Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas; Burmese leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein; New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie, and two choices who also made it onto the magazine's short list: Mohammed Morsi and Undocumented Immigrants.
TIME's official choice will come from this short list of eight, and will be revealed Wednesday morning live on TODAY, on TIME.com, and via TIME's Twitter feed.
Which is your pick?
More from TIME magazine:
- President Obama: 'These Tragedies Must End'
- Malala Yousafzai and why education should in the foreign policy debate
- Apple CEO Tim Cook announces U.S. Mac production, warns: 'Don't bet against us'
- Mohammed Morsi's moment
- The Higgs boson, Fabiola Giannati and the Cathedral of Science
- Marissa Mayer's Wall Street debut sends Yahoo! stock surging
- Bill & Hillary Clinton: What will diplomacy look like in the 21st century?
- Undocumented Americans: Not legal, not leaving
- Slideshow: TIME Persons of the Year 1999-2011