How I went about picking a winner for a contest

choose_winner.py

import random

contestants = ['mitch', 'dave', 'michael', 'james b', 'james g', 'robyn', 'cole', 'richard', 'tom', 'lonnie']

def choose_winner(contestants, cycles):
    max_count = 0
    max_person = 'jake'
    random.seed()
    counts = dict(zip(contestants,[0]*len(contestants)))
    for i in range(cycles):
        person = random.choice(contestants)
        counts[person] += 1
        if counts[person] > max_count:
            max_count = counts[person]
            max_person = person
    stacked_list = sorted(counts, key=lambda i: counts[i], reverse=True)
    print "Winner: {}".format(max_person)
    print "Count: {}".format(max_count)
    for entry in stacked_list:
        print "{:4d}: {}".format(counts[entry], entry)

if __name__ == "__main__":
  choose_winner(contestants, 2016)