TIME Person of the Year 2018: Past winners and this year's shortlist

TIME Magazine has granted its Person of the Year cover to "The Guardians," a group of journalists who have made tremendous sacrifices in pursuit of the truth.

The thoughtful series of covers, which were unveiled by the magazine this morning, include Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist murdered for his criticism of the Saudi crown prince.

Explaining the selection, the magazine's editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote: "Like all human gifts, courage comes to us at varying levels and at varying moments.

This year we are recognising four journalists and one news organisation who have paid a terrible price to seize the challenge of this moment: Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md."

Here, we take a look back at where the TIME Person of the Year all started, including past winners and who else was shortlisted for this year's honour:

Who was the first TIME Person of the Year?

The TIME person of the year accolade actually started by accident.

The final week of 1927 had been a series of slow news days, and editors were struggling to find someone to lead their Person of the Week feature.

According to a letter to readers that appeared in the 1944 edition, “no one had done anything newsworthy enough to put his picture on TIME’s cover, so somebody suggested we stop looking for a Man of the Week and pick a Man of the Year.

“This was an easy choice: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, who had soloed the Atlantic in only 33 hours and 39 minutes, was the hero of 1927.”

And so, Mr Lindbergh became the first – and the youngest – person to be given the TIME Person of the Year honour at age 25.

Since then, TIME’s Person of the Year has sparked debate, praise and controversy. Here, we take a look back at some of its most memorable winners and favourites for this year.

Who else was on the 2018 shortlist?

Meghan Markle

The American actress dominated most of the spring headlines this year when she married Prince Harry in an unforgettable ceremony at Windsor Castle.

President Donald Trump

The 45th president of the United States was TIME's Person of the Year in 2016, and he's in the running for the honour once again.

It's been a tremulous year for Mr Trump, from controversial border policies to an international trade war with China.

Moon Jae-in

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been recognised for meeting North Korea's Kim Jong Un in a handful of historic summits, including helping reunite separated South and North Korean families.

March for Our Lives Activists

After the Parkland school shooting which claimed the lives of 17 pupils and teachers, students from the school set up a campaign group, March for Our Lives, to take action on gun-control reforms.

Christine Blasey Ford

Ms Ford was praised for her bravery after testifying against then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, claiming he had sexually assaulted her whilst they were both in high school.

Ryan Coogler

Mr Coogler was credited with creating this year's hugely successful Marvel film, Black Panther.

Featuring a majority-black cast, the film was praised for highlighting black excellence and had the third-highest grossing US release of all time.

Robert Mueller

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was one of the central figures involving allegations of Russian meddling in Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the centre of attention routinely this year over Russia's involvement with the 2016 presidential elections and the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

Separated Families

President Donald Trumps's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy resulted in thousands of children being held in federal government facilities separated from their parents.

In March, thousands of migrants, primarily from Honduras, began heading towards the Mexico-US borer to plead asylum.

How many women have been TIME Person of the Year?

Of its 91 Person of the Year issues, TIME has awarded the title to an individual woman four times: Wallis Simpson (1936); Elizabeth II (1952); Corazon Aquino (1986) and Angela Merkel (2015).

In 2017, the honour was granted to “The Silence-Breakers” – acknowledging those women who spoke out against sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Despite the move being hailed a success by many, others were quick to point out that the collective win didn’t make up for the lack of individual women with the title in the issue’s history.

Most memorable TIME People of the Year:

The TIME Person of the Year title has had its fair share of heroes and villains.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler was featured on the cover just before the start of World War II. The cover depicts the German dictator with dead bodies hanging above him. In the TIME 1938 issue, he was labelled the “greatest threatening force that the democratic, freedom-loving world faces today.”

In 2006, instead of choosing any one or individual group, TIME chose to put “you” on the front of its cover. The choice was intended to draw attention to the power of the internet, which made each of our contributions both important and relevant.

In 2016, sitting US President Donald Trump was awarded the honour in 2016 after storming the White House in a shock election.

TIME granted him the commendation “for reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s.”