since 1928, a person chosen each year to illustrate the
cover of the first January edition of
Time, an
American newsmagazine.
Time was founded in 1923 and
developed a practice of singling out a newsworthy
man each week to
place on the
magazine's
cover. Choosing a "
Man of the Year" is said to have started because the
news in the first week of January 1928 was so
dull that no one
individual was deemed noteworthy enough to feature. The
gimmick of "
Man of the Year" was thus created to
handle the lack of
news and
American aviator Charles
Lindbergh (1902-1974) was chosen. The "
Man of the Year" was thereafter made an annual
event. Those featured were not picked based on a popularity poll but rather on the basis of who did the most in the previous year to
affect the
news.
a person considered to be an outstanding
example of mankind in a
particular year. For
example, every year since 1927
Time magazine's
Man of the Year has been chosen with the stated guiding principle of identifying the person who, for
better or for worse, has had the most
impact on that year's events.