OKLAHOMA JOURNALISM HALL OF FAME

Ray Soldan, Mark Thomas and Mike Shannon were at the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 3. (Photos by Helen Ford Wallace).

We were proud to honor our  journalism colleagues at the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame April 3 at the Nigh University Center Ballroom at the University of Central Oklahoma.

The 2009 inductees were Sharon Dowell, retired Oklahoman food editor; Lewis Ferguson, retired Associated Press political correspondent; Sue Brewster Hinton, journalism professor at the Oklahoma City Community College; Debbie Jackson, Tulsa World Sunday editor; Russell M. Perry, publisher of The Black Chronicle; Dick Pryor, OETA broadcast journalist; Ray Soldan, retired Oklahoman high school sports writer, and Gloria and Wayne Trotter, co-publishers of the Countrywide and  Sun of Tecumseh.

Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association, was  Master of Ceremonies for the event. UCO President Roger Webb gave welcoming remarks. Dr. Terry Clark,  UCO Mass Communications Department,  also talked about the honorees and the Journalism Hall of Fame.

Honorees were selected by a committee composed of members of the working press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Hall of Fame.

Ike and Sharon Dowell talk before Sharon is introduced at the banquet.

Carolyn Shannon, Linda Miller, Phyllis Bennett and Renee Lawrence, all from the Oklahoma Publishing Co., enjoy lunch. They were there to cheer for colleagues Sharon Dowell and Ray Soldan.