The Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame now is accepting nominations for inductees.

Nominees are required to have established themselves or to have roots in Michigan.

Steve Lacy, chairman of the Hall of Fame committee, said nominees should be outstanding contributors to their communities as well as educators who have served as models to aspiring journalists.

“(These are) people who have made contributions that have exceeded what the average person has done as a journalist,” said Lacy, who is director of the School of Journalism.

Honorees will be inducted at a banquet April 20at the Kellogg Center.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by peers in the field,” University Ombudsman Stan Soffin said, who was inducted in 1999.

Soffin has worked as a high school journalism and English teacher. He is a journalism professor and director of the MSU School of Journalism.

Soffin also is on the Hall of Fame committee, which is composed of members of news organizations all over Michigan.

There have been 106 journalists inducted since 1952, when the original Michigan Newspaper Hall of Fame was established. The hall existed until 1968, then became inactive until 1985 when it was revived and renamed by the School of Journalism.

The Hall of Fame also added two special awards in 1999: The Special Service Award and Martha Rayne Award for Media History Research.

“It’s a wonderful way of bringing Michigan journalists together once a year to honor our best and discuss journalism,” Lacy said.