Deadline for Jacksonville Hall of Fame Nominations Drawing Near

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 3, 2023 at 10:30am

Time is running out to submit nominations to the Jacksonville Area Hall of Fame.

After more than a decade, a new class will be induced to the hall this year, and the Jacksonville Area Hall of Fame Board is making a last call to ensure every possible nominee is considered.

President of the Hall of Fame Board of Directors, John Buchanan says February 15th is the last day to submit a nomination form for consideration. “We will be meeting a few days after that to being the selection process.

We are going to have to select down from I would say forty or fifty or so names down to, hopefully through this process and a tiered vote system, down to select seven out of those to honor. We hope to be able to announce around April, 1st the honorees for this class.”

Buchanan says the Jacksonville Hall of Fame has been laying dormant for about the past 12 years, and the board wanted to bring it back as a way to have an event to honor those who have given so much of themselves to the community.

The Hall of Fame was established in 1990 but has been inactive since 2012. Buchanan says in reviving the hall, the board chose to meet in the middle on how often new inductees should be selected.

We thought it was too much of an imposition on everyone to do this annually, so we decided to go every other year. Plus, the class of 2025 will be in conjunction with the sesquicentennial year of Jacksonville.”

Buchanan says several very thoughtful nominations have been submitted so far, but there is still time to get a nomination form turned in.

Paper nomination forms are available at The Source, Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home, or here at the WLDS/WEAI Studios. They also can be printed off the Hall of Fame Facebook page. Completed nomination forms should be returned to JAHOF, P.O. Box 645, Jacksonville, IL 62651.

Buchanan adds that “to provide the board with ample information on a nominee, it is helpful to include as much information as possible about the person’s community service activities.”

An official induction ceremony will be held at Hamilton’s Banquet Hall on June 7th. Details on the event including how to purchase tickets will be announced this spring.