Marylander of the Year finalists

Barbara Haddock Taylor / Baltimore Sun

On the night after Freddie Gray's funeral, the Rev. Donte Hickman was in West Baltimore with other ministers seeking to restore calm when his phone rang. On the east side of town, the senior housing complex and community center he had spent the last five years making a reality was burning to the ground. He was undeterred. The anger, the frustration, the hopelessness that fueled the riots, he would later say, “was why we were building in the first place.” Long known for his social engagement, Reverend Hickman of the Southern Baptist Church has emerged as a leading voice calling for Baltimore to see the unrest following Gray's death as a wake-up call, demanding comprehensive solutions to seemingly intractable problems. He's doing his part — construction is back on track at the Mary Harvin Transformation Center — and his voice can help ensure the city's other leaders do as well.

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Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun

If you thought Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski would slow down after her announcement in March that she would not seek re-election, you don’t know much about Barbara Mikulski. Herewith a sampling of what she’s been up to since then: Getting approval for thousands of guest worker visas crucial to the Eastern Shore seafood industry; weaving language into an appropriations bill to help increase police accountability; reversing a Housing and Urban Development rule that would have decimated the prospects for affordable housing in Columbia; pressing for improvements in Baltimore’s error-prone VA office; staving off No Child Left Behind reforms that would hurt Maryland; providing decisive support for the Iran nuclear deal; and leading the charge for a new FBI headquarters in Prince George’s County.

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Here are The Sun's finalists for 2015 Marylander of the Year. We'll announce the winner at the end of December.