Explore our gallery of Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame members. Learn about how to make a nomination.
Hall of Fame Honorees
2013 Members

Oliver C. Murray
Inducted: 2013 OLIVER C. MURRAY (1941- ) joined the newsroom at WKY-TV (Now KFOR) in 1968 after serving in the Army, becoming the first African-American photojournalist in Oklahoma City. He held many positions including chief news photographer and...
James Coburn
Inducted: 2013 JAMES COBURN (1955- ) has served as reporter and photographer for The Edmond Sun since 1986. A native of Oklahoma City, flexibility is Coburn’s middle name, going from a passion as photographer to feature writer and then the city beat and state...
Joe Hancock
Inducted: 2013 JOE HANCOCK (1929-2014), publisher of the Hobart Democrat-Chief, began working in newspapers at age nine, five years before his father bought the Democrat-Chief. He worked as a fill-in Linotype operator during summers for papers at Anadarko, Mangum,...
Joe Hight
Inducted: 2013 JOE HIGHT (1958- ) became editor of The Colorado Springs Gazette in 2012 after a 27-year career with The Oklahoman. Hight began his career on The Vista at Central State University. He worked at the Guthrie Daily Leader, the Lawton Constitution and the...
John Klein
Inducted: 2013 JOHN KLEIN (1953- ), senior sports columnist since 2005 for The Tulsa World, began his career in high school as a sports writer for the Perry Daily Journal, crediting Milo Watson with encouraging his career. After graduation from OSU, he was sports...
Jerry Laizure
Inducted: 2013 JERRY LAIZURE (1953-2012), senior photographer at the Norman Transcript, worked for Oklahoma newspapers since age 14 when he fibbed about his age at the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise to start as a paperboy. He worked at Pawhuska before studying...
Mike McCarville
Inducted: 2013 MIKE McCARVILLE (1940-2017) built a national following in political coverage with his online The McCarville Report, beginning in 1980. He started as a teen correspondent in Del City for the Oklahoma City Times in 1957, served in the Army and returned to...
Mary Mélon
Inducted: 2013 MARY MÉLON (1961- ), president and publisher of The Journal Record, was named publisher in 2001 after serving as advertising director and associate publisher beginning in 1995. She is a member of the senior management corporate team for The Journal...
Tom Muchmore
Inducted: 2013 TOM MUCHMORE (1950- ) is the third-generation publisher of The Ponca City News and The Tonkawa News. He also owns and is manager of WBBZ Radio and president of poncacity.net, an Internet provider. He graduated from Ponca City Senior High School and...
How to Submit a Nomination
Selection Process

Honorees are selected by a committee comprised of hall of fame members, including its director, and distinguished leaders in journalism. The Selection Committee considers all nominations, both new ones and those held over from previous years, before selecting the honorees.
The 2024 Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame nominee submission deadline is Tuesday, October 31, 2023.
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