We don’t make a lot of lists at The Verge. We don’t make a habit of handing out awards, accolades, or unwarranted high fives. And we certainly don’t do it lightly, if we do it at all. If we’re going to tell you that you should care about something or someone, we try and make it count. We try and make it real.

It’s hard to remember a year as tumultuous, as exciting, and as surprising as 2013. This has been a year of revelations, disclosures, heartbreaking losses, and thrilling wins. A year of changes. But most of all, it’s been a year of the people — a year when it was never more clear that just a single person could change the way we all feel and think.

That’s the spirit that inspired the Verge 50. A desire to call out — to showcase — the people who changed our lives this year. Whether they made us laugh, think, act, or pause, these are the people in our world right now who are the prime movers. The leaders both in thought and deeds. These are the people who matter now.

So without further ado, meet the dreamers, the informers, the noisemakers, the entertainers, the world changers, the old guard, and (yes) the next wave that make up the Verge 50.

Read The Verge 50 now