Flocabulary has once again teamed up with The New York Times for our annual Year in Rap student contest. We are so thrilled to announce the winning raps!

We were floored in the best way when we learned that 1,104 students entered this year’s contest! And after reading through every single one (seriously!), we were consistently impressed by students’ thoughtful and creative reflections on some very serious events from 2012. Our top picks mixed insightful news summaries with pithy language and excellent rhymes.

You can view the winners on The New York Times Learning Network, and we’ve also listed them below.

Group Winners

Leah, Eileen, Gordon, Katie, Natalie, Phillip, Christian, Kora, Logan, Kaia, Alex, Tyler, Andrea, Helen, Lori and Ben

2012, the Mayans got it wrong
What happened? Let’s lay it out in this song
Mitt Romney tried to win, but he lost to Barack
Whatever happened with the war in Iraq?
Romney slammed the 47 percent, so Obama got a job
Banks had to pay the people they robbed
People figured out that you only live once
And if you believed in the apocalypse, you looked like a dunce
The Mars rover landed, Honey Boo Boo was a star
Felix flew from space, Gabby flew on the barre
PSY kicked Bieber off the YouTube stage
Two different giants won; it’s their golden age
Aurora brought fear, Sandy made the East drown
We cried for the first graders in Newtown
Yet its horrors created heroes who sacrificed their lives
We salute their courage, even as we mourn inside

Natalie and Lis

Yeah, you know Egypt’s shift to a democracy
It’s been quite a change from their previous theocracy
The president got his sweeping power from the constitution
But he went back down to the people as another solution

Now to North Korea, they launched ballistic missiles
Neighboring countries made it clear it wasn’t beneficial
Turns out it was a huge humiliation
But North Korea claims they’re a sovereign nation

Everyone thought austerity was over in Greece
But the protests continued to challenge the peace
Lucas Papademos got up to speak
But the protesters yelled “Get back in your seat!”

The Sunni population thought that Assad would fall
But it turns out the Shiite ruler would rise above them all
Assad claims he’s fighting terrorism in his state
The rest of the world thinks it’s escalating at an alarming rate

Mariann and Genta

In 2012 Apple had a win
They had people crowding stores like mice in the city,
But the iPhone 5 got real tall and thin
While the iPad mini shrunk itty bitty.

Technology affects how students learn,
Attention spans are shortening,
They focus on the things they yearn
Which causes distraction and delays in learning.

Business owners are benefiting from Instagram,
Posting pictures of their products for Inquisitors
All this commotion is causing a traffic jam
With 7.8 million visitors.

After Sandy hit transportation was gone
People turned to social media to see what the deal was about
The riders kept calm and carried on,
And just like the buses, we’re out.

Brock B., Alex B., Venkat G., Gavin S., Jack W. WHMS

Two thousand twelve was a crazy year,
Every single massacre we shed a tear
From Newtown to Aurora and all between
So much bloodshed even at the silver screen

Barack’s back in office, leaving Mitt in the dust
But the fiscal cliffs a-comin’ so we gotta adjust
16.3 trill, our debts at its max
Obamacare ain’t a fee, it’s just a tax

Facebook went public and plummeted downward
Dow Jones did the opposite; slowly risin’ upward
Benghazi got attacked, act of terror
Susan Rice was a terrible bad news bearer.

Our hearts still achin’ for all the people lost
Families’ll do anything for em back; pay any cost
We made it through Sandy though we’re still hurtin’
So bring it on 2013, we’re just sittin’ here waitin’.

Max B and Debbie G

(Barack Obama) You Republicans are still in the stone age
You got them poor people that do all your work locked in a metal cage
We battled you out you boys Mitt and Paul in them people’s election
You say only 50 percent of Americans pay their taxes, too bad you ain’t even one of them
That’s the damage
I backed my boy Joe and favored same sex marriage
But I say you not allowed in my WHITE HOUSE

(Mitt Romney) Those facts ain’t right us Republicans still ruling this town
We got more power than Oprah Winfrey even if she was wearing a crown
You’re good at only one thing losing millions, that’s what you spent
Too bad you barely dropped unemployment under 8 percent
It all right that we lost cuz we got Chris Christie at 2016

Individual Winners

Joe

2012, the year of the Mayan Apocalypse
Want to know what happened? I’ll tell you in a blitz

A man named Felix Baumgartner jumped from space
It was a proud moment for the Human race
He went so fast he broke the sound barrier
You think that’s scary, I’ll tell you something scarier

There was a sea monster named Hurricane Sandy
And what it did was anything but dandy
It destroyed houses and trees like a giant beast
And how people felt afterward was bad, at the least

At the presidential election Romney was beaten by Obama
Democrats cheered, while Republicans ran for their mamas
Obama supported same sex marriage and ignored Iraq’s hate
What will he do with America’s fate?

From record-breaking jumps to weather that’s mean
20-12’s been interesting, but let’s hear it for 20-13!

Matt F.

They lit the torch in London, Felix jumped from outer space.
Romney had binders full of women, Obama won the race.
Kobe got 30,000 points, Brooklyn got the Nets.
LeBron got his first ring and Tebow’s on the Jets.
Sandy came through and wrecked a couple of states,
Facebook’s I.P.O. made a couple mistakes.
One Direction and Bieber, they sold out shows so easy,
Kim K is over Kris, now she’s moved on to Yeezy.
R.I.P. to the kids at Sandy Hook Elementary,
300 lives lost at Honduras penitentiary.
Barack Obama won person of the year,
The Avengers had an enormous premiere.
Gangnam Style got over a billion views,
The Aurora shooting was all over the news.
YOLO was the word of the year,
Mayans said the world would end, but we’re all still here.

Sarah C

Obama re-elected for second term,
this time he’s promising to be more firm.
He’s still devoted to his plan for health care,
while Republicans exclaim, “It’s just not fair!”
Sandy blew threw, leaving towns in the dark
damage was even found throughout Central Park.
It also destroyed states in the east,
people are considering Usain Bolt a beast!
His time was 9.63 seconds for the 100-meter race,
giving him a world record along with first place.
Facebook stokes dropped, it’s just an old phase,
Twitter and Instagram are becoming the new craze.
Mark Zuckerberg is improving it, or at least that’s his goal,
now because of the shooting, there’s concern about gun control.
Many are disturbed by the event at Sandy Hook,
and the 26 innocent lives [Adam Lanza] took.

William L. SAS2013

In 2012 the SOPA act came into play
The Gov threw out sites by casting them away
Mega Upload had disappeared from us that day
Many people had decided that someone had to pay

Obama beat Romney for the executive seat
Obama wasn’t sad that he hadn’t been beat
The 2012 Olympics had happened during the heat
The Olympics showed that anyone could show off their feats

The Costa Concordia ran aground at the start of the year
The Captain was obviously not thinking clear
Lance Armstrong’s titles got stripped from the wall
Using drugs to cheat ultimately led to his downfall

Neil Armstrong had left us this year
He had set foot on the moon without fear
It is almost the end of the year
This rap is to commemorate 2012, you hear?

Lowell B.

2012 is over, it’s time for the year in review
This is what’s important, from my point of view
We broke a lot of world records, more than a few
One of the best, is the man that flew
Felix Baumgartner jumped from space
But he survived the fall, no need to be replaced
Gangnam Style hit over a trillion views
it got so popular, it hit the news
The curiosity rover finally landed on mars
Now we can do more, than just looking at stars
Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast
This hurricane hurt New York the most
The Sandy Hook shooting, the second worst school shooting in history
Why someone would do this, is still a mystery
It’s a new year, time to start fresh
Hopefully, 2013 will be the best.

J.H.

The Olympics happened in the summer this July.
U.S.A. had 104 medals, spirits were high!

Sandy’s winds and rain hit the east coast.
The beaches were destroyed, the boardwalk was toast.

Coasters in the water, sand was everywhere,
we donated time and money to show that we care.

Obama beat Mitt Romney. He won his second term,
the Democrats were happy, Republicans did squirm.

Will and Kate are havin’ a baby.
Carly Rae Jepson said, “Call Me Maybe!”

Psy is from Korea, he brought us Gangnam Style,
they pony riding dance makes everyone smile!