Time magazine will name its “Person of the Year” for 2018 in December.

The winner, who will appear on the cover of next month’s issue, is the person or group of people who, for good or ill, has come to embody the passing year by popular consensus.

The magazine’s editors ultimately choose their candidate, as they have every year since 1927, but an online poll has also been carried out since 1998 to assess the strength of public feeling about particular options.

Who are 2018’s candidates for the Time cover?

This year’s shortlist includes Christine Blasey Ford, the California academic who presented powerful testimony before the US Senate alleging historic abuse at the hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The 2,000 families separated at the US-Mexico border as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” illegal immigration crackdown are also nominated as a collective, as are the March for Our Lives activists.

President Trump himself is also shortlisted, as is Robert Mueller, the FBI special counsel carrying out a long-running investigation into alleged Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election.

Speaking of Moscow, Vladimir Putin is also under consideration over the suspicious poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the UK and the Russian navy’s recent face-off with Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait.

Another victim of international intrigue, the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, could make for a poignant cover star.

Others in contention include the film director Ryan Coogler for his huge box office success with Black Panther, South Korea president Moon Jae-in for his work on improving relations with Pyongyang and Meghan Markle, the American actress who married into the British Royal Family.

Who were the recent winners?

In 2017, the accolade was given to the silence breakers, those women and men who came forward in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and other influential celebrities to report their own experiences of abuse as part of the #MeToo movement.

Time paid tribute to the silence breakers “for giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing us all to stop accepting the unacceptable”.

Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Show all 18 1 /18 Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium George W Bush - 2000 Elected President of the United States AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Rudy Giuliani - 2001 Mayor of New York at the time of 9/11, selected for his response to the attacks AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium The Whistleblowers - 2002 Represented by Cynthia Cooper, Sherron Watkins (R) and Coleen Rowley (L) for coming forward with stories of corruption Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium The American Soldier - 2003 Representing US armed forces around the world, most notably in Iraq AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium George W Bush - 2004 Returned as President of the United States AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium The Good Samaritans - 2005 Represented by Bono, who had helped to organise the Live 8 concert and Bill and Melinda Gates who had founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium You - 2006 Awarded to you for creating content on the internet PA Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Vladimir Putin - 2007 Was to become Prime Minister of Russia, was President at the time AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Barack Obama - 2008 Elected the first black President of the United States Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Ben Bernanke - 2009 Chairman of the US Federal reserve at the time of the financial crash Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Mark Zuckerberg - 2010 Founder of Facebook Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium The Protester - 2011 Represented protesters from events across the globe such as the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement and the Tea Party movement AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Barack Obama - 2012 Returned as President of the United States Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Pope Francis - 2013 Elected head of the Roman Catholic Church Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium The Ebola fighters - 2014 The health workers who worked to stop the spread of Ebola in the West African epidemic AFP/Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Angela Merkel - 2015 The German Chancellor was awarded for her leadership in the Greek debt crisis and the Eurozone refugee crisis Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium Donald Trump - 2016 Elected President of the United States in November Getty Time magazine's persons of the year so far this millennium The Silence Breakers - 2017 The people who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment, including the figureheads of the #MeToo movement. Pictured is Rose McGowan, one of the women specifically honoured, addressing the Women's March in October 2017 AFP/Getty

In 2016, Donald Trump, then newly crowned president-elect, was named “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 a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s.”

Predictably, Mr Trump believes he should be in contention again this year.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Prior to that, the previous list of winners was as follows: