Crikey readers have spoken. Actually, they’ve been screaming. Since the 2006 Crikey Awards for politics went out last week they’ve been demanding to know what happened to the competition for s-xiest pol.

We’re a customer-driven media outlet, but we also value our integrity. So here’s a history lesson for you all. Last year when we initiated the Crikey Awards, we asked for nominations for the most s-xist politician. You lot misread it – and started sending in your choices for the s-xiest pol. And you’ve been at it again this year – without even being asked.

We suppose we’ve only got ourselves to blame. We shouldn’t have run so hard a couple of weeks ago on a study by ANU economist Dr Andrew Leigh and University of South Australia student Amy King that asked an independent group of “beauty raters” to assess the looks of 286 major party candidates from the last federal election.

But if you’ve got dirty minds, so be it. You’ve sent in enough names to start a shortlist. So it’s on again. The Crikey S-xiest Politician Award. A poll of pulchritudinous pols. Two awards will be up for grabs – one for the blokes and one for the sheilas.

All state and federal politicians are eligible. Send your choice (and reasons for it) to boss@crikey.com.au by COB on Thursday December 22 and we’ll hand out the big awards on Friday.

To get you started, nominations so far – strictly in alphabetical order – include John Anderson, Ted Baillieu, Anna Bligh, Steve Bracks, Kate Ellis, John Faulkner, Peter Garrett, Julia Gillard, Clare Martin, Fiona Nash, Brendan Nelson, Tanya Plibersek, Christopher Pyne, Natasha Stott-Despoja and Malcolm Turnbull.

If you’re stuck for ideas, you might like to look at Pages 11 and 12 of Leigh and King.

Experience has taught us, however, that this rarely happens with Crikey readers.

Just remember – entries close Thursday PM.