Last week, we announced our picks for the top 2011 Game Changers in Green, Politics, and Media -- the innovators, mavericks, visionaries, and leaders in those fields who are changing the way we look at the world and the way we live in it. And we asked you to vote for the Ultimate Game Changer in each category.
The response has been great, with hundreds of thousands of votes cast.
So far, Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards is out in front in Politics, followed by corruption-busting attorneys general Eric Schneiderman and Beau Biden; and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Daniel Hernandez, the intern who saved her life. Voting is still open, so fans of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who kept his pledge to make gay marriage in New York a reality, the Atlantic's job crisis-chronicling Don Peck, immigration rights advocate Congressman Luis Gutiérrez, dogged SEC critic Senator Chuck Grassley, and criminal justice author and activist Brandon L. Garrett need to make their voices heard!
In Media, Al Jazeera leads on the strength of its breaking coverage of the Arab Spring, followed by Mexico's tireless drug war reporter Adela Navarro Bello, and the Guardian's phone-hacking muckraker Nick Davies. Check out their entries and the entries of the other Media Game Changers here -- and vote for your favorites.
In the Green category, environmentalist (and Vampire Diaries star) Ian Somerhalder is out in front, followed by oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, climate crusader Tim DeChristopher, anti-fracking evangelist Mark Ruffalo, and Greenpeace's oil rig-scaling Kumi Naidoo.
Today we are announcing the Game Changers in three more categories: Style, Food/Travel, and Entertainment. Look over the slideshows we've put together giving you the rundown of who we picked, why we picked them, and how they are changing the game. Then vote for the Ultimate Game Changer in each category. Click here to vote for the Ultimate Game Changer in Style, here for the Ultimate Game Changer in Food/Travel, and here for the Ultimate Game Changer in Entertainment.
Once all 12 categories have been presented, we'll announce our Ultimate Game Changers. We'll also announce which of you has won a trip to New York to party with our Game Changers (get all the details here).
So cast your vote. Here for Green, here for Media, here for Politics, here for Style, here for Food/Travel, and here for Entertainment.