The nominations for Newsmaker of the Year ranged from the political - Premier Darrell Dexter - to the popular - Sidney Crosby. In the end, the Newsmaker turned out not to be a person, but an event. The dominant story of the year, and for many years to come, was the awarding of a massive naval shipbuilding contract to the Irving-owned Halifax Shipyard. The economic impact of the $25 billion federal contract is already being felt, and will lead to the creation of thousands of jobs over 30 years of construction.