As a year ends, some news organisations pick a person they deem to have been the most influential over the last 12 months, in a positive or even in a negative way. Some of these ‘Person of The Year’ editorial properties have acquired noticeable brand value. Some are far less well known.
Here’s a quick guide
A. TIME Person of the Year
- Person of the Year (called Man of the Year or Woman of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the American news magazine and website TIME, featuring a person, a group, idea, or object that “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year”
- The tradition of selecting a “Man of the Year” began in 1927, with
TIME editors contemplating the news makers of the year. - Key parameter for consideration is “Who had the highest impact that year”.
- Methodology:
a. TIME does not publish its methodology for thePerson of the Year Awards , and below is based on third party feedback and media reportage.
b. Selection is purely by TIME’s editors, who rely on a wide range of opinions.
c. The conversation begins in September, when every TIME employee is asked to pitch a candidate. Those ideas and many others are brought together in an all-staff meeting, where writers and editors have five minutes to persuade their colleagues.
d. After above, a shortlist is made, of an unspecified number of people.
e. TIME then holds a “Person of the Year Reader Poll”, where readers can cast votes for the person or group they believe have the most influence that year.
f. Reader poll has no bearing on final verdict. TIME’s editors meet internally and deliberate, to decide on the winner, and an interview is held.
g. By the first or second week of December, TIME publishes its Person of the Year feature. Shortly after, reader poll results are also announced. - TIME Person of the Year awardees since 2000:
| S.No. | Year | Person | Remarks |
| 1 | 2023 | Taylor Swift | |
| 2 | 2022 | Volodymyr Zelensky, and The Spirit of Ukraine |
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| 3 | 2021 | Elon Musk | |
| 4 | 2020 | Joe Biden and Kamala Harris | |
| 5 | 2019 | Greta Thunberg | |
| 6 | 2018 | The Guardians | Journalists who faced persecution for their reporting. 4 people highlighted |
| 7 | 2017 | The Silence Breakers | People who spoke out against sexual harassment, figureheads of MeToo |
| 8 | 2016 | Donald Trump | |
| 9 | 2015 | Angela Merkel | |
| 10 | 2014 | Ebola Fighters | Healthcare workers who helped stop spread of Ebola in Africa |
| 11 | 2013 | Pope Francis | |
| 12 | 2012 | Barack Obama | |
| 13 | 2011 | The Protester | Recognizing historic significance of grassroot protests |
| 14 | 2010 | Mark Zuckerberg | |
| 15 | 2009 | Ben Bernanke | Chairman of Fed during 2008 crisis |
| 16 | 2008 | Barack Obama | |
| 17 | 2007 | Vladimir Putin | |
| 18 | 2006 | You | Individual content creators on the internet |
| 19 | 2005 | The Good Samaritans | Bono, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates |
| 20 | 2004 | George W Bush | |
| 21 | 2003 | The American Soldier | Representing US forces around the world |
| 22 | 2002 | The Whistleblowers | Represented by people who uncovered Enron, WorldCom, FBI irregularities |
| 23 | 2001 | Rudy Giulani | Mayor of NYC at the time of 9/11 |
| 24 | 2000 | George W Bush |
B. Financial Times Person of the Year
- The Financial Times, a British business newspaper, annually nominates a Person of the Year to the person the newspaper has considered has demonstrated considerable influence in a given year.
- There appear to have been years (1971, 1979, 1995) when no person was nominated.
- Methodology is not outlined anywhere, and it seems to be is purely an editorial decision.
| S.No. | Year | Person | Remarks |
| 1 | 2023 | Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen | CEO, Novo Nordisk, for being behind game-changing weight loss drugs Wegovy, Ozempic |
| 2 | 2022 | Volodymyr Zelensky | |
| 3 | 2021 | Elon Musk | |
| 4 | 2020 | Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci | Founders of BioNTech and developers of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid19 vaccine |
| 5 | 2019 | Satya Nadella | |
| 6 | 2018 | George Soros | |
| 7 | 2017 | Susan Fowler | For energizing the MeToo movement by publishing a blog post about her time at Uber |
| 8 | 2016 | Donald Trump | |
| 9 | 2015 | Angela Merkel | |
| 10 | 2014 | Tim Cook | |
| 11 | 2013 | Jack Ma | |
| 12 | 2012 | Mario Draghi | President of European Central Bank, for taking drastic measures to save the Euro |
| 13 | 2011 | Mohamed Bouazizi | Representative of Arab youth in Arab Spring |
| 14 | 2010 | Steve Jobs | |
| 15 | 2009 | Lloyd Blankfein | CEO of Goldman Sachs, for navigating GFC |
| 16 | 2008 | Barack Obama | |
| 17 | 2007 | Jean-Claude Trichet | President of European Central Bank, for steering a path through 2007’s credit crisis |
| 18 | 2006 | Lakshmi Mittal | For building the world’s largest steel group |
| 19 | 2005 | Sergey Brin and Larry Page | |
| 20 | 2004 | Eliot Spitzer | New York Attorney-General, for taking on big businesses |
| 21 | 2003 | Jeffrey Immelt | CEO of General Electric, for his remodelling of GE and being the face of American capitalism |
| 22 | 2002 | George W Bush | |
| 23 | 2001 | Howard Lutnick | CEO, Cantor Fitzgerald, for rebounding his firm from the impact of 9/11 |
| 24 | 2000 | Craig Venter | Biochemist-entrepreneur, for being pivotal to decoding the human genome |
C.WSJ Person of the Year / “Winners and Losers”
A message showing “WSJ’s Winners and Losers of the Year” had been doing rounds on WhatsApp.This list is merely based on an opinion piece by Gerard Baker, who is “Editor-at-Large” at WSJ (having retired from the role of Editor-in-Chief in 2018).
It is not a list that WSJ itself has published, and WSJ does not have a “Person of the Year” or “Winner / Loser” list.
There have been other instances of publishers posting one-off “Person of the Year” / “Loser of the Year” articles, which cannot be construed as the publication having an actual list or award. Such a title is in large part for clickbait.
D. Other prominent “Person of the Year” awards
- Time and FT are the only two sources that publish popular “Person of the Year” awards. However, there are some other lesser-known awards, mostly region-specific as below:
| S.No. | Name | Organizing Body | Years Active | Remarks |
| 1 | Australian of the Year | National Australia Day Council | 1960- | Part of celebrations surrounding Australia Day. Organized by a non-profit Aus-Govt-owned social enterprise. Similar awards conferred at state and territorial level |
| 2 | Azerbaijan Person of the Year | ANS Group | 2001- | Annual awards by a prominent news and broadcasting company in Azerbaijan |
| 3 | BBC Sports Personality of the Year | BBC | 1954 | For top-scoring / top-performing players |
| 4 | Canadian Newsmaker of the Year | The Canadian Press | 1946 | Selected by a consortium of editors of Canadian publishing houses |
| 5 | Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year | Latin Recording Co | 2000- | Presented annually by the same org that distributes the Latin Grammy Awards |
| 6 | Le Monde Person of the Year | Le Monde | 2009-12 | Presented by French Newspaper Le Monde. Appears to have stopped after 3 years. |
| 7 | MusiCares Person of the Year | MusiCares | 1991- | An annual gala presented by Musicares, a public charity and an affiliate of The Recording Academy, which distributes Grammy Awards |
| 8 | New Zealander of the Year | Kiwibank + NZ Govt | 2010 | Hosted by the New Zealand Govt, with nominations open to the public, and judges include sponsors, community leaders and experts |
| 9 | Person of the Year | The Onion | 2015 | An annual list published by satirical online platform, The Onion |