The people have spoken. Katharine Biele was voted by you, our readers, as The Salt Lake Tribune’s 2024 Utahn of the Year.
As president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, Biele has stood at the front of a years-long battle for fair voting districts and citizen initiatives. In July, when the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the Utah Legislature overstepped its authority by rewriting a 2018 voter-approved ballot initiative, Biele said it was “a win for all Utahns.”
Read more about the editorial board’s pick for the 2024 Utahn of the Year, and learn more about who it has named Utahn of the Year since 1997 below.
2023 • The new Salt Lake City International Airport
2022 • Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham
2021 • The Great Salt Lake
2020 • Health care workers
2019 • Utah Jazz owner and philanthropist Gail Miller
2018 • Former North Ogden Mayor and fallen soldier Brent Taylor
2017 • Longtime U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch
2016 • Madi Barney, who brought attention to how Brigham Young University was handling reports of sexual assaults
2015 • Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes
2014 • Same-sex marriage plaintiffs
2013 • Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill
2012 • Mormons Building Bridges
2011 • Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank
2009 • Elizabeth Smart
2008 • Utah Jazz owner and businessman Larry Miller
2007 • First responders to tragedies, including the Trolley Square shooting rampage and the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster
2006 • Latino leaders Jorge Fierro, Andrew Valdez, Ruby Chacon and Alma Armendariz
2005 • Pamela Atkinson, advocate for the poor and homeless
2003 • Gov. Olene Walker
2002 • LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley
2001 • Winter Games organizer Mitt Romney
2000 • Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson
1999 • The letter that sparked the Olympic bribery scandal
1998 • Mary Ann Kingston, who suffered a brutal beating after escaping plural marriage
1997 • NBA MVP Karl Malone
