Fashion. Celebrities. Pop Culture. People with stories need knowing. We’re in the business of keeping our pulse on what’s hot at SO and week in, week out, we showcase features we hope you love as much as we do scripting them. Here’s our shortlist of our fave features this year.

‘Hope’ Springs Anew, published on January 15

Kenny Benjamin is not just interested in restoring the Hope Zoo. The Guardsman head honcho and avowed animal lover wants to make it a world class facility. Benjamin and the Zoo’s special projects manager Karen Gandreti issued us an invitation to visit the Zoo, sharing the overarching plan for the site (yes, more animals are on the way) and lifting our pages with beautiful images of the exotic array of the facility’s inhabitants.

Mondays At The Club, published on April 22

The delightful senior citizens of the Clarendon Association of Returning Residents Club welcomed SO freelancer Emma Dalton-Brown into their fold for their Monday social. Games, laughter, reflective stories, and all-round enlightening experience ensued.

Miss Universe On The Rock, published on May 20

Relinquishing her crown just last week, Miss Universe 2011 Leila Lopes was on The Rock for a working weekend trip that culminated with her crowning Miss Jamaica Universe Chantal Zaky. In-between her stay, SO had full access to the beauty queen, by her side as she visited Bob Marley Museum, Devon House, lunched at Tracks and Records and went swimming at Fort Clarence.

From Dad, With Love, published on June 17

Our annual Father’s Day Issue was a pictorial treat (and fine read)

as a cross-section of professional men, posing alongside their children, shared lessons learnt from their own fathers.

No Frills, Just Frew, published on September 16

No less than The New York Times deemed it appropriate to profile Jamaican-born bespoke tailor Peter Frew between its esteemed pages. We tracked down the 33-year-old who graduated from Manning’s School and attended sixth form at Wolmer’s Boy for a sitdown, and learnt that his self-run company, Archangelo Sartorial dresses some of the Big Apple’s elite in exquisite hand-cut garments starting at US$4,000.

SO Front Row, published September 16

Stylish, fab and on the horizon for big moves in their future, we sat down for Jodie Williams, Lleana Benjamin, Kristina Broderick, Allisa Forrester, Drew Brennan, Kibebi Johnston, Bradlee-Ann Powell, Kristina Kerr and Kate Hendrickson to get serious about their personal visions, and their take on young female entrepreneurs.

SO Entrepreneur, published on September 23

For a peek into the minds of the next tier of Jamaica’s entrepreneurs, SO had intellectual discourse with Gordon Swaby, Andrew Paul Matalon, Shane duQuesnay, Kevin Mullings, Max Jardim, Kyle Gregg, Nicholas Benjamin, and Krishna Vaswani.

‘Penny’ For Her Thoughts, published on October 7

SO caught with Penny McDonald, the international managing director of Arise Media UK, which is on the cusp of launching a cable network platform spanning London, New York, Lagos and Johannesburg. The ferociously intelligent McDonald also shed light on how Arise has successfully challenged perceptions of Africa as a hot destination for fashion, commerce and culture.

Home & Away With Garth, published on November 4

When accomplished choreographer Garth Fagan returned home in October for the Tedx seminar, we genuflected for what proved a refreshing, insightful sitdown. The 72-year-old (who won worldwide acclaim for choreographing Disney’s Lion King Broadway show) told us retirement was not in the cards anytime soon and he’s currently in discussion for a new major show.

SO Power Couples, published on November 11

Drawing inspiration of the second-term win at the polls for President Barack Obama, and the role played by his fabulous wife Michelle – who PR gurus and style watchers said was his secret weapon – SO featured Jamaica’s very own Power Couples. These are the movers, shakers, and power brokers, who continue to influence the economic, social and political spheres on The Rock and beyond.

Kenyan By Design, published on November 25

Who would have thunk it? Mission Catwalk’s director Mykal Cushie and Bob Marley’s granddaughter Donisha Prendergast as fashion models? The talented duo – on a trip to Africa to film a documentary – were recruited to don fabulous threads from Ann McCreath’s Kiki Romeo line and look nothing short of spectacular in images shot by photog Emmanuel Jambo.