Editor's Note for Person, Athlete of the Year

Thanks to everyone who participated in Apple Valley Patch's first time selecting a person of the year and student-athlete of the year.

Make sure to check out our stories about athlete of the year, pole vaulter , and person of the year, . Before these stories, I knew a bit about each, but as I read the stories I was amazed at how deserving they are of these titles—5 a.m. workouts for a high schooler? Completing the same assignments as the students you volunteer to work with, just so you're prepared to answer all their questions the next day? I don't think I could be that motivated, in either case. Hannah and Sue deserve much respect and admiration.

I will be the first to admit, however, that the nomination and polling processes this time around were not bug-free, which made nailing down the end results a bit more involved than anticipated.

A review of the votes and website traffic statistics for each of the polls—done during voting and after the fact—showed that casting multiple votes was a popular practice. Depending on particular computer settings, people are able to vote more than once—or many, many times—on polls created using our Patch polling feature.

But it's not so much the fault of those wanting a particular person to win as it is my own fault, for my lack of consideration of the limitations of our polling feature. For that, I apologize, and I hope to improve the process of any similar poll or contest in the future.

Thank you again to those who nominated candidates, and I'd like to thank and give a hand to all the nominees in both categories. Each has, in some way, improved the life of someone in Apple Valley, whether by being a constant volunteer presence, entertaining them, providing a cause for community pride or just making them smile.

Hopefully they provide inspiration to make the community even better in 2012.