Joe Biden and Kamala Harris jointly named Time's 'Person of the Year'

U.S. president-elect Joe Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris were jointly namedTimemagazine's 2020 "Personof theYear" on Thursday, chosen from a list of finalists that included the man Biden vanquished at the polls - President Donald Trump.

The Democratic former vice-president and his running mate, a California senator whose election broke gender and racial barriers, together "offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket,"Timesaid in a profile of the pair, published online with its announcement.

Following the most tumultuous U.S. presidential campaign in moderntimes, waged in the throes of a deadly pandemic, economic devastation and a strife-torn national reckoning with racism, Biden and Harris prevailed in an election that drew the highest voter turnout in a century.

Timeeditor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal credited the victors with succeeding in "an existential debate over what reality we inhabit."

"For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris areTime's 2020Personof theYear."

Trump, the 45th U.S. president andTime's 2016Personof theYear so honoured a month after his upset election victory as the Republican nominee thatyearwas among three other finalists in the running thisyear,Timesaid.

The two others, both group candidates, were the healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic, and participants in the racial justice movement sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

ThePersonof theYearis usually an individual, but multiple people have been named in the past. The title is one, according to the magazine, signifying "who affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse."

Boy band BTS named Entertainer of the Year

Timebegan its tradition in 1927. Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg lastyearbecame the youngest individual winner of the accolade.

Biden, 78, who served two terms as vice-president to Barack Obama, will become the oldestpersonto assume the office of U.S. president when he is sworn in on Jan. 20. Harris will become the first woman, the first Black person and the firstpersonof Asian descent to be inaugurated vice-president.

Trump, who has continued to espouse baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him and that he is the rightful winner, is not expected to attend the inauguration.

Along with itsPersonof theYearhonour,Timemagazine named the Korean pop group BTS as its Entertainer of theYear, and basketball star LeBron James was crowned Athlete of theYear.

The winners and finalists for various categories were due to be feted during a prime-timespecial television broadcast on NBC on Thursday night.