Letters from the editor: Who should be on the DP 103?

Trick-or-treaters had barely started counting candy when I started getting inquiries about this year’s DP 103.

Please include so-and-so.

Who is on this year’s list?

I remained noncommittal. The Daily Pilot 103 stays under wraps until we all get to open it on, well, Boxing Day, Dec. 26.

But now that Thanksgiving is here we can start gobbling a bit about the annual list of newsmakers.

For those unacquainted with this unusually numbered list, there is often some confusion about what it means. The main fact I’ve discerned is that people want to be on it.

Some think it’s a lineup of people the Daily Pilot is celebrating, some kind of laurel. It’s not that. Others think it’s folks we’re poking fun at. It’s (mostly) not that either.

In truth, the list is made up primarily of those who make news or lend influence. The good. The bad. The politicians.

These are people, occasionally animals, who make headlines or toil behind them.

Last year’s No. 1 was Costa Mesa Police Chief Tom Gazsi. No. 103 was Fairview Park’s San Diego fairy shrimp.

The 103 has rules, somewhat inconsistent ones. Those who earn a spot must be individuals, not groups, companies, churches, boards of directors or nonprofit organizations.

That means that instead of listing a charity, we’ll pick one person from that organization. Instead of an entire church, we’ll pick the pastor. Instead of a company, we’ll pick the CEO.

We allow couples to occupy a single spot if their community efforts are a true partnership. We have, for example, picked married folks jointly involved in philanthropy.

And if two people make the same mistake, such as two criminals involved in an odd crime, they can go on the list together.

There are people we don’t, or won’t, include, namely anyone who died this year. We thought about breaking that rule this year in honor of Newport lifeguard Ben Carlson, who died on duty, but decided to do right by his memory in another column. We don’t include anyone on our staff or in our freelance stable, awesome as they all are, but we do give a nod to other area media.

Another thing to remember: The DP 103 is primarily lighthearted. But for some reason people want to gnash their teeth over it instead — mainly the people who don’t make the list.

And they are many.

The day of publication is about as fun as the SAT for us because so many people call and write to tell us who got left off the list. These callers are usually right, and there’s nothing we can do about it at that point.

Mainly for this very reason, so we aren’t embarrassed, we’d like your suggestions.

Post your picks below this column or email them to me. You may see them on the DP 103, unless you don’t.

JOHN CANALIS is the editor for the Daily Pilot, Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot and Huntington Beach Independent. He can be reached at (714) 966-4607 and john.canalis@latimes.com.