Who should be The Salt Lake Tribune’s 2025 Utahn of the Year?

Since 1997, The Salt Lake Tribune’s editors and editorial board members have selected a Utahn of the Year. The aim is to find the person, persons or entity who — for good or ill — best reflect the state and its biggest news stories of the year.

We ask readers to weigh in, too, through a poll. Last year, you picked Katharine Biele, the president of the League of Women Voters of Utah who stood at the front of a years-long battle for fair voting districts and citizen initiatives.

Here, in alphabetical order, is a list of potential candidates for The Salt Lake Tribune’s 2025 Utahn of the Year. Don’t see your nominee? Write-ins are welcome.

Andy Allen, the director of Utah State University’s Veterans Resource Office, has spoken with students who spend their days studying in the university library — only to sleep on a park bench at night. Many are lonely, he says, missing the camaraderie of military life. Allen is helping open a renovated home in Hyde Park that will serve as dedicated housing for USU’s student veterans.

Shaylee Allred’s childhood love for reading reignited in 2023, but it was one particular cowboy romance series she read at the end of that year that prompted her to get more involved with the book community. This year — amid book bans targeting female authors — she organized Romance Out West, Utah’s first-ever romance book convention.

Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, known as “Afa” to friends and family, was a self-taught fashion designer and the first Samoan featured on season 17 of “Project Runway.” He was shot and killed at a “No Kings” protest in downtown Salt Lake City this year. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and his two children, Vera and Isaac.

Annie Bennett emigrated from Argentina three decades ago and intentionally employs several other Latinos at her Bountiful restaurant, Annie’s Cafe. Despite several anonymous calls threatening to “break the windows” this summer, Bennett and her team are welcoming anyone in need of a free meal. “There’s too much hate between people,” she told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I will never stop helping.”

Buddy, a 6-year-old German shorthaired pointer, crawled for 11 hours with his injured owner after a UTV crash in the Uinta Mountains. “He’s the little man that got me out of there for sure,” Jake Schmitt told The Tribune. “If he wasn’t there, I probably wouldn’t have made it mentally, spiritually.”

​​Kati Jo Christensen is a special education teacher in the Weber School District using her TikTok to pay off student lunch debt. “These kids can’t learn unless they have food in their bellies, and they’re worrying about their parents paying for it,” she told The Tribune. “I just want to make sure that these kids aren’t feeling the weight of adult problems when they’re only in elementary.”

Caroline Dias Goncalves spent 15 days in a federal immigration detention center, which she said were “the hardest of my life.” The 19-year-old University of Utah student was arrested by federal agents on June 5 while driving through Colorado to visit a friend. Her detention drew national attention as President Donald Trump has pushed his administration to crack down on illegal immigration across the country.

Ebony Davis filed a lawsuit alleging that her former high school basketball coach made racist remarks so often that she no longer wanted to be on the team. The alleged racial harassment was “so severe,” the lawsuit argues, that she chose to abandon her education and her favorite sport. “I will still have a very deep love for sports, just because I grew up with it, and I think it made me who I [am],” Davis told The Tribune.

Aj Dybantsa, a top recruit and BYU’s star player, made plenty of headlines this year — even earning praise from those he played against. “He’s not only an outstanding player, he’s a really neat kid,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said after Dybantsa led the Cougars to an October win against the Tar Heels.

Farmers are dying by suicide at the third-highest rate by vocation in Utah. But after a federal program offering mental health support ran out of money, the state did not continue it. Local farmers told The Tribune that they face fluctuating market prices, unpredictable weather and a stigma that they should be “tough.”

Federal workers in Utah and across the U.S. were offered the chance to take a “deferred resignation” early this year. The Tribune spoke with some of the thousands of federal workers who lost jobs in public health, defense, veterans affairs, agriculture, geology and foreign aid. “You’re not trimming the fat,” one Utahn told The Tribune. “You’re cutting an arm off and forcing other people to do more work, which is only going to make the agencies less efficient.”

Flags — defined by Merriam-Webster as a “usually rectangular piece of fabric of distinctive design that is used as a symbol (as of a nation), as a signaling device, or as a decoration” — were some of the top newsmakers this year in Utah. The Beehive state became the first in the nation to ban pride flags from all public schools and on all government property. Hours before the ban took effect, Salt Lake City adopted its own versions of the pride, transgender visibility and Juneteenth flags as official city flags — a move the governor called “dumb,” but one that other cities are looking into, as well.

Fluoride, a mineral scientifically proven to strengthen the enamel on teeth and prevent cavities, was banned from Utah water systems this year. Dentists and health organizations say a fluoride ban will disproportionately impact low-income residents, while proponents of the bill say it will allow individuals to make their own choice. In a nationwide-battle around public health, Utah became the first state to enact a ban.

Arturo Gamboa has open-carried a rifle at Utah protests for years, his friend told The Tribune this summer. The local punk rock drummer was shot at the “No Kings” march in downtown Salt Lake City this past June after a protest volunteer opened fire on him, injuring Gamboa and killing an innocent bystander, Arthur “Afa” Folasa Ah Loo. Gamboa spent five days in jail without the option of bail before he was ultimately released.

Judge Dianna Gibson rejected a new congressional map drawn by Republican state lawmakers in a landmark decision issued Nov. 10, instead ordering that a map drawn by plaintiffs with a district favoring Democrats be put in place ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The ruling came after a yearslong legal battle since the state Legislature repealed Proposition 4, an anti-gerrymandering initiative passed by voters in 2018. Gibson faced a number of threats after the decision, prompting Utah’s top judicial officers to “call on everyone to approach concerns involving the courts with civility, respect and constructive dialogue.”

The Kane County Commission is making history — again. For the first time in history, researchers say, three women have been elected to serve on an all-female county commission. While it may be a first for the county’s commission, they are the second all-female government entity in Kane County history.

Mike Lee started the year eager to work with President Donald Trump on ensuring “that national monuments are appropriately confined to the smallest area necessary to protect genuine antiquities, as the law requires.” He later revived a push to sell off public lands in Utah and throughout the West — a move that received pushback from liberal and conservative voters alike. Eventually, Lee pulled his proposal from Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” — a bill he once said was “debt slavery for the American people” but which he voted for anyway. Lee also promoted right-wing conspiracy theories about the man who shot two Minnesota legislators and their spouses, killing one couple; supported ending mail-in voting; helped rebrand the Defense Department; and revived his stance on repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Mia Love, the child of Haitian immigrants who went on to become a City Council member, mayor and the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died in March after a three-year-long battle with brain cancer. “Love rightly stood up for her heritage and courageously called out a president of her own party for his cruelty,” The Tribune’s editorial board wrote.

Russell M. Nelson, who died Sept. 27, was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ first centenarian president and its oldest-ever prophet. During his tenure, the church reversed a controversial LGBTQ+ policy; launched an all-out war against the nicknames “Mormon” and “LDS” when referring to the faith and its members; called three new apostles; and set in motion an unprecedented pace of temple building.

Park City Mountain Ski Patrollers went on strike amid the 2024-2025 holiday crush and the first of a series of snow storms, throwing Park City Mountain into disarray. In the end, they got their $2 an hour increase, two weeks of parental leave for employees who have worked at Park City Mountain for at least 12 nonconsecutive months, “industry leading” educational opportunities and more.

Natalie Pinkney became the first Black person to serve in a countywide elected position in Salt Lake County, the state’s most populous county. “I’m committed to be your voice, to be your ears and not be afraid to stand up for what is right, to make sure our government has transparency and accountability,” the South Salt Lake Democrat vowed after taking the oath of office, “to make sure no matter where you live, the color of your skin, what you believe, you will have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen calls those experiencing homelessness in Utah County “her people.” She experienced homelessness herself and spent every other week in March and April trying to eat, sleep and carry out daily activities in the state’s second largest county. She says it’s helped inform her work advocating for — and providing essentials for — the community.

Jeff Silvestrini, who retired as the mayor of Millcreek in November, made headlines this year for standing up to federal immigration authorities amid a national crackdown. In January, he wrote a scathing email to Immigration and Customs Enforcement saying federal agents “trampled the rights” of Brandon Colin, a U.S. citizen who wrote on Facebook about a confrontation with ICE officials. Weeks later, he reached back out in defense of a Millcreek family of four, who moved from Venezuela in 2024 and had received an email instructing them to leave the country within seven days. “I’m a proud American, and I have respect for the Constitution and Bill of Rights,” Silvestrini said. “And I see that threatened when people are being told to leave our country, and their status is being revoked without any kind of due process. ... That’s not American.”

The Sundance Film Festival is here for one last festival. The celebration of independent film will leave its home since 1981 for Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027. Despite a substantial offer to stay — The Tribune reports a total of $5.53 million in cash and $6.65 million in in-kind contributions — Robert Redford, the festival’s founder who died in September, said that change is “inevitable,” and that “we must always evolve and grow.”

Astrid Tuminez is the longest serving public university president in Utah. This year, she grieved the loss of her husband and grappled with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk on her campus. In an interview with The Tribune, Tuminez spoke about balancing her role and her health, including going to therapy and encouraging others to ask for help. “As hard as everything has been,” she said, “one of the things that I’ve really reflected upon deeply and journaled a lot about in the past eight months is — and I hope it doesn’t sound like a cliché — but often from ... darkness something awaits to be born. With death, there’s always a rebirth. With winter, there’s always spring.”

Deserae Turner was just 14 when she survived a near-fatal shooting by two teen boys. In the years that followed, she graduated high school, served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, got married and became known for growing and giving away thousands of flowers to her community. She also faced numerous complications, which ultimately led to her death this year at 22 years old. “Death is scary, she told The Tribune. “I’m not gonna lie, everybody is scared of death. And yes, I guess I am scared a little bit, but I also just want it to come quick, come for me and be done.”

Tracie Yellowman Tséyíníítsó is believed to be the first-ever Native American student graduation speaker at the University of Utah. “Coming from where I come from, and then things I’ve experienced in my life, I never thought that I would be able to make my mark in a good, positive way for my community and for my people,” the horse-riding and professional pipe-welding mother of three told The Tribune. “I feel honored.”

Public unions had 30 days to get 140,478 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot asking Utah voters if they want to repeal a new law barring public employee unions from negotiating contracts with their government employers. They ended up with 251,590 valid signatures, making it the most successful signature-gathering effort in state history. Republican lawmakers pushed through the ban on public employee unions during the 2024-2025 legislative session, sparking outrage among teachers, public works employees, librarians and others.

Nikki Walker was a force and a light, those around her say. The champion for diversity, equity and inclusion in tech died unexpectedly this summer at 48. “When you have someone who is really good at what they do, and they care about what they do, and they care about who they’re doing it for, you’re going to always feel that because most often it takes many people to fill all of those roles, and Nikki Walker was monumental when it came to that,” Dr. Sidni Shorter, the president of the Utah Black Chamber of Commerce and friend of the public relations maven, told Fox 13.

Keyshawn Whitehorse is a professional bull-rider from McCracken Springs, Utah, and “the pride of the Navajo Nation.” As he continues to chase a world title, Whitehorse wants one thing: “Not just be one of the best Native American riders; I want to be one of the best bull riders there is.”

LJ and Luci Wilde love Utah’s mountains, but LJ worried his daughter’s rare genetic disorder would severely limit outdoor mobility — especially as Luci started to grow. After carrying her on hikes for several years, he created “the Cascade,” a device capable of tackling rugged terrain that includes a chair for someone to ride on and a harness that attaches to the person pulling the cart. The Wildes have sold more than 1,000 of them to families in similar situations to his, across all 50 states and in 22 countries.

Nominate your own Utahn of the Year. Who is not on this list? Write in who — for good or ill — best reflected Utah and its biggest news stories of the year.