at the end of each year, a shortlist of the most popular essential mixes from that year is drawn up by the bbc. listeners are invited to vote for their favourite shortlisted mix in a poll on the essential mix website around two weeks before the final show of the year. the mix with the majority of the votes is given the title of "essential mix of the year" and is replayed in the final show of the year. the exception for the proper nomination of the essential mix of the year award was in 2007, when voting and competitions were suspended on radio 1 until further notice, due to failures in various bbc competition voting systems. so for that year, the essential mix of the year (high contrast) was chosen by pete tong and the radio 1 "essential mix" team.