Who were the heroes, villains and just plain boring-if-sexy people of 2008? We have our thoughts, but in the interests of participatory democracy we thought we’d ask you, gentle Crikey readers.

Nominate now in our time-honoured end of year categories: Crikey’s person of the year (hurrah!) and Australia’s sexiest politician (boy and girl divisions).

This year we also have new categories for your amusement: the Inaugural Crikey Arsehat Awards, a range of key categories climaxing in what is destined to become a derogatory landmark in Australian public life, Crikey’s Golden Arsehat for the most appalling person of the year.

Today we are asking for your nominations. Early next week we will run a briefer survey bringing the top nominations together for the actual voting. At the end of next week, just before we adjourn for our summer break, we’ll name this year’s winners.

So nominate now (nominations close Sunday 10pm). In the survey you’ll find if you follow this link, there’s space to enter a single name in each category and brief supporting statements for the Person of the Year and Golden Arsehat. Think carefully and nominate wisely: their arsehats are in your hands.