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TIME names its 2014 Person of the Year

WASHINGTON — TIME has named the “Ebola fighters” as the 2014 Person of the Year.

The magazine unveiled its choice Wednesday morning.

Earlier this week it announced the finalists for the honor.

The eight contenders were:

  • The Ferguson protesters — the protesters took to the streets around the country in response to the fatal shooting of the unarmed black 18-year-old, Michael Brown, by a white police officer.
  • The Ebola caregivers — the caregivers are working to fight the biggest Ebola outbreak in history and are often contracting the illness in the process.
  • Vladimir Putin — the Russian president has been a headline maker through the country’s annexation of Crimea to its role in Ukraine relations.
  • Taylor Swift — the top-selling artist made the transition from country to pop music this year and remains in the news through everything from fashion to her views on Spotify.
  • Jack Ma — the founder and CEO of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant.
  • Tim Cook — the Apple CEO came out as gay this year following the company’s introduction of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
  • Masoud Barzani — the acting president of the Iraqi Kurdish Region has been working to gain independence in the region.
  • Roger Goodell – the National Football League commissioner has come under scrutiny this year through his handling of players’ domestic abuse cases.

In TIME’s online poll, readers chose Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as their favored candidate.

Watch a video about the person of the year:

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