Romney named "Mormon of the Year"

Mitt was named over fellow nominees David Archuleta, Harry Reid, Stephenie Meyer, and JetBlue founder David Neeleman.

Kent Larsen explained the pick:

"During 2008, Romney concluded the most credible presidential campaign of any Mormon to date and dominated the U.S. national news early in the year like no single Mormon has in recent memory.He garnered a great deal of both praise and criticism, gaining him significant endorsements as well as important detractors. . .On the international scene, numerous press articles mentioned Romney's membership in the Mormon Church, thus contributing to the image of the church abroad."

UPDATE: Lowell Brown has an interesting take on the designation and what it means for the Mormon church.

Personally, I wish that we Mormons could be a little less self-conscious about the achievements of our members.

An analogy: I think it was Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach, who didn’t want his players celebrating in the end zone after scoring touchdowns. “Act like you’ve been there before," he is reported to have said.

I concede that regarding the presidency, we Mormons haven’t “been there,” but Lombardi’s advice still applies: We should act like the people we are. We are no longer a small, struggling, persecuted sect. We are the fourth-largest religious denomination in the USA and our members are sprinkled throughout American society.

Too often, however, we act like a small, struggling, persecuted sect.