Each year, since 2012, The Young Turks has been honoring an individual as “Turk of the Year.” That year, the online progressive news organization named Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban gunman for learning to read and writing a blog when she was 12-years-old, as previously examined by the Inquisitr, as their choice.

A “Jerk of the Year” award also appears in videos from 2013 on. TYT chose the candidates using a write-in poll that viewers had been encouraged to participate in. The candidates have been finalized and TYT is asking viewers for their opinions.

2016 presidential candidate and U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders leads the voting for Turk of the Year, currently being shown with the approval of 51 percent of voters. Others in contention include the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who have the support of 25 percent of those polled; TYT host Jordan Chariton; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein; and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King.

“Bless your hearts for nominating him,” Cenk Uygur said of the nomination of Jordan Chariton, after questioning whether or not they could accept an employee winning. Chariton’s reporting of events through 2016 will define a good portion of history’s view of them. From interviews with every single politician that would speak to him, from Standing Rock to the Democratic National Convention to Donald Trump rallies, and other locations too numerous to list, Jordan Chariton was there, providing viewers with an independent view, free from “corporate influence,” as the commercial-free and free program touts itself.

President-elect Donald Trump, who has been a frequent subject of TYT scrutiny, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the ousted Democratic Nation Committee chairperson, who has also found herself with the attention of the program, are currently tied, with 31 percent apiece, in running for the title of Jerk of the Year.

Others chosen by those polled by TYT for Jerk of the Year include 2016 popular vote winner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has the nod of 24 percent of TYT viewers. Outspoken host with The Blaze, Tomi Lahren; former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage; and Russian President Vladimir Putin, have each garnered single-digit levels of support for the “Jerk” award.

Being an independent news source that presumably earns at least some income from YouTube, the group also accepts donations, in the from of monthly memberships, from viewers who support the objectively, well-produced work that TYT broadcasts, virtually every day. TYT sells merchandise like t-shirts to raise funds as well.

The 2015 Turk of the Year went to this year’s leader, Bernie Sanders. Jerk of the Year went to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. When he announced Bernie Sanders as the winner in 2015, TYT host and co-founder Cenk Uygur spoke of the then-current polls indicating that the senator would win against every Republican presidential candidate, including Donald Trump. Uygur described Sanders’ willingness to rail against what the senator calls the “one percent” and Wall Street as a defining characteristic of the New York City native’s campaign and political rock-star power.

Dozens of individual TYT videos on YouTube present the facts surrounding the leak of internal DNC emails that revealed a prejudice against Bernie Sanders within the committee’s leadership, in addition to hours of commentary and opinion from people like Uygur, Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, Ben Mankiewicz, and Jimmy Dore, among others, whose ideas and views would seem to really matter. Uygur has appeared before thousands of electrified Bernie Sanders supporters, seemingly almost as excited to see Uygur as they were Sanders.

TYT has over 3 million subscribers and the program’s videos regularly attract tens and hundreds of thousands of views. In July, the TYT set at the Republican National Convention was crashed by Alex Jones of InfoWars. The incident resulted in a shouting match and viral video, widely shared across social media, as previously featured by the Inquisitr.

[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]