Pussy Riot, Jay-Z and PSY nominated for TIME 'Person of the Year'

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Pussy Riot are among the nominations for 2012′s TIME Magazine ‘Person of the Year’.

The accolade is annually awarded to ”the person who most influenced the news this year for better or worse”.

Earlier this year, the three members of the punk protest group were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and were sentenced to two years in jail.

The trio had been the subject of a lengthy trial following the performance of a “punk prayer” in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The song requested that the Virgin Mary drive Russian president Vladimir Putin from power.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, have been named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International. They have become a cause celebre since their incarceration, with musicians including Madonna and Paul McCartney voicing their support.

Among the other nominees are Barack Obama, Korean popstar PSY, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Jay-Z.

The full list is available here, with the winner revealed in TIME’s December 31st issue.