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Here, we take a look at some of the year's brighter moments. For some people, 2010 was a time when years of hard work culminated in a monumental achievement. For others, sheer luck changed lives in unexpected ways.
And then there's the guy who made headlines by gulping down a few dozen hot dogs on the Fourth of July. But we're not here to judge. He set a goal, he reached it and that's what our list of 2010's winners is all about.
So click through the photos below to see who made the most of the 365 days they were given. And if all this year-end good feeling is too much to take, check out our list of the year's biggest turkeys. Maybe you didn't win big this year -- but you didn't lose big, either.
The Winners of 2010
Does life get any better than this? On Feb. 17, American snowboarder Shaun White clinched the gold medal in his first run in the men's halfpipe final at the Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. That meant he didn't have to take his second run -- but he did anyway, executing his dangerous, dizzying signature move, the Double McTwist 1260. His soaring performance boosted his score to 48.4 out of a perfect 50 and became the most memorable moment of the Winter Games.
Nobody puts Baby in the ... oh, let's just skip the "Dirty Dancing" jokes. More than 20 years after she made that movie, actress Jennifer Grey proved she still has great moves by claiming the mirror-ball trophy on "Dancing With the Stars" in November with partner Derek Hough. Grey triumphed despite a grass-roots campaign to get viewers to vote for competitor Bristol Palin.
Victory isn't always pretty. On July 4, Joey Chestnut downed 54 hot dogs to win the annual Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York. Chestnut has won the competition four times in a row. Once, he snarfed 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes for the win. Urp.
It's 2010 -- aren't we done marking "first" achievements for women? No, we are not. In March, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in the 82-year history of the Academy Awards to win an Oscar for Best Director. Her movie, "The Hurt Locker," won four other awards, including Best Picture. Her victory may have been sweetened by the fact that one of her rivals for the honors was her ex-husband, "Avatar" director James Cameron.
For New Orleans Saint Drew Brees, the first time was the charm. In his Super Bowl debut on Feb. 7, the quarterback led his team to a 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts and was named the game's most valuable player. The NFL championship was the Saints' first. Brees joined the team in 2006, a few months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. "We just believed in ourselves," he said after the game. "We knew we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us."
Lee DeWyze may have surprised some with his victory on "American Idol," but probably no one more than himself. The Chicago-area paint salesman edged out Ohio mom Crystal Bowersox in the show's season finale in May, and he appeared shocked at the result. "I can't believe this. I love you guys," an emotional DeWyze told the crowd.
Does victory get sweeter the longer you have to wait for it? The last time the San Francisco Giants won a World Series, they weren't even in San Francisco. But the prolonged dry spell ended Nov. 1, when the team beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 to claim baseball's championship. (The Giants had last won the title in 1954, when they were in New York; they moved to California four years later.)
Tina Fey is, what, 40? But in November, she became the youngest winner of the Mark Twain Prize, a lifetime achievement award for humor. She gained fame as a "Weekend Update" anchor on "Saturday Night Live" and went on to prime time TV success with "30 Rock." She also wrote the movie "Mean Girls" and starred in the film "Baby Mama." And of course there are her unforgettable cameos as Sarah Palin back on "SNL." In her acceptance speech, Fey said she never expected to win the Twain prize, thinking "the Judy Blume Prize for awkward puberty" was more in her reach.
They say breeding is everything -- especially for a dog competing at the 134th annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Sadie the Scottish terrier wowed crowd and the judges, trotting away with the Best in Show award on Feb. 16. "A dog of this quality comes along once in a decade," judge Elliott Weiss declared. "She's pleasing to the eye from every angle, moving and standing."
Country singer Taylor Swift was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, and in January she went home with four of them, including Album of the Year for "Fearless." It was a great accomplishment marred by two moments. One was her off-key awards ceremony performance with Stevie Nicks, which mushroomed into big controversy in the media. The other, captured in this photo, was when she dropped one of her Grammy trophies, breaking it to bits.
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