The Jacksonville Area Hall of Fame nomination process has a little less than 3 weeks left.
John Buchanan, Hall of Fame committee member, says there are several places for you to return your nomination form to the committee: “Nominations opened to the general Jacksonville area on January 1st and they will remain open through February 15th. There are several places to pick up a nomination form and several places to submit them, including our post office box – PO Box 645 Jacksonville, Illinois 62651. There is an option to return and complete an application online through our Facebook Page.”
Buchanan says nominators should try and offer the best and most complete picture of the nominee when they submit an application to the Hall of Fame selection committee. He says that it’s not an exercise in futility if a nominee isn’t chosen the first time around, as all information is kept for subsequent nomination cycles.
Buchanan says the Hall of Fame selection committee has already gotten into some interesting conversations about what constitutes an honoree. He says it’s not necessarily a person who has worked in a certain profession competently for a significant amount of time in Jacksonville, but has done more: “They may have reached out and tried to repay their community with volunteer service, and they have been involved in several organizations. Not just been a member of those organizations, but has been a leader of those organizations. You can serve on a committee and not make much of a commitment, but if you’re an officer in one of those committees, then you have a commitment. A person that has a distinguished career and has a track record of community service, you can see where they maybe would have a step above some of the other nominees.”
Buchanan says a third area that the committee is looking at is whether or not an individual has left a tangible impact on the Jacksonville area and its people.
For more information, find the Jacksonville Area Hall of Fame on Facebook or reach out to Buchanan, Forrest Keaton, Laura Marks, Bob Byers, Pat Kennedy, Lori Oldenettel, Alberta Robinson, Stephen Symons, and Greg Olson for more information.
Nominations are due back to the committee by February 15th.