New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Image: AAP/David Rowland)

The 2020 Crikey Awards– already attracting well over 4,000 votes after a single day — features a (as far as we’re aware) first for the competition: someone campaigning to win the title of Arsehat of the Year. We should have seen it coming, from, let’s face it, our weakest candidate:

Given a considerable chunk of Jordies’ appeal comes from portraying himself as too dangerous for the hacks of the mainstream, of course he’d want to win, rather than allow one of the far stronger candidates — people he spent the year railing against — to get some more bad press.

Anyway, it seems to be working. His fanbase has propelled him into an early lead — and, with breathtaking levels of student politics energy, clogged our various social media feeds with accusations of us being sub-Murdoch corporate shills. You’re welcome, we guess?

Still, a lot of our readers are standing firm on a more obvious candidate, Prime Minister Scott Morrison who is extremely close on Shanks’ tail.

As one voter put it: “I still have Morrison at top of my list. He alone is the boss of this outfit that attacks workers, protects dubious conduct, makes announcement after announcement with no follow up. Plus the latest snub of him in climate talks shows that the world are onto him and with no Murdoch media to twist the facts has nowhere to hide on the world stage.”

Elsewhere, our readers gave us a few ideas on some candidates we’ve missed for person of the year, including last year’s winner New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern:

For Person of the Year, I want Jacinda Ardern. Yes, from across the dutch. Where do I sign to become The West Island? While I have the contract pen in hand, where do I sign in support of WAxit? This federation is looking very old. It’s time for the Tasman Bubble to become a governance model.

While another voter was keen on Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan, destroyer of worlds (or at least of Liberal party leaders):

What about the state premier who didn’t have any corruption or rorts scandals, who quickly and firmly put a COVID-19 protection plan in place and stuck to it despite enormous pressure from Morrison and his gang, who moved quickly to see off an extreme right-wing dinosaur from Queensland who wanted to bring COVID-19 to the state, who has presided over a $2 billion surplus ($1 billion more than was in the state budget), and who had foreign ship workers brought ashore and treated for COVID-19, and who is about to gut and hang out to dry the opposition in March’s state election?

Still, topping the list so far for Person of the Year is that cypher for the highs and lows of 2020, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Have your say by voting here.