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Nominations will be accepted through Dec. 30, 2011.
The commission will review nominations and may select finalists to consider at public hearings in each congressional district in 2012 and 2013.
LINCOLN — Let the nominations begin.
The Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission is seeking names of prominent, outstanding — and long dead — Nebraskans for consideration to join the state's Hall of Fame.
The 21-month nomination period is the first step in a process that may lead to an induction in 2014, said Michael J. Smith, director of the Nebraska State Historical Society and secretary of the Hall of Fame Commission.
Commission rules define “Nebraskan” as someone born in Nebraska, who gained prominence while living in Nebraska or who lived in Nebraska and whose time in the state was an important influence on his or her life and which contributed to the nominee's greatness.
A person must have been deceased for at least 35 years to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Inductions are limited to one person every five years.
The most recent inductee was botanist and horticulturist Charles E. Bessey, who put the University of Nebraska on the academic map.
Among the 24 individual inductees whose busts are displayed on the rotunda level of the State Capitol are Ponca Chief Standing Bear, writers Willa Cather, John G. Neihardt and Mari Sandoz, frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody and Boys Town founder Father Flanagan.
An inductee's contributions normally have been made in public affairs, arts, sciences or professions. The commission gives secondary consideration to entertainment, athletics or fields in which interest, publicity and general recognition may be intense for a time, but where a contribution to society wasn't primary.
Activities that added to the welfare of society and to the reputation of Nebraska are weighed more heavily than activities primarily benefiting the nominated individual.
Contact the writer:
444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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