US President-elect Barack Obama has won another contest, after becoming the first African-American to win the White House. Obama has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2008.

The magazine says in one of the craziest elections in American history, Obama overcame a lack of experience, a funny name, two candidates who are political institutions and the racial divide to become the 44th president of the United States. His "message of change" and "sense of competence" seem to have caught people's attention.

A handout photo shows the cover image of the Dec. 29, 2008/Jan. 5, 2009 double issue. Time magazine named U.S. President-elect Barack Obama the Person of the Year after he became the first African-American to win the White House. The cover image was by ex-street artist Shephard Fairey. [Xinhua Photo]

Michael Elliott, Editor Time International, said, "Barack Obama's story, his success in the US Presidential election, the way that he's captured the imagination of folks all over the world, made him a pretty compelling choice. Frankly for us the question really was 'is there a reason for not choosing Barack Obama?', and I guess we couldn't come up with one."

The magazine named US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Alaska state Governor Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou as runners-up.

Last year's winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Previous individual winners have included U2 lead singer Bono, President George W. Bush and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

(CCTV December 19, 2008)