When the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame called in January, my first reaction wasn’t pride—it was pure shock. Me? The Luther Register publisher who works from her chair with a laptop with a temperamental “a” on the keyboard, a cracked phone, and a perpetually half-empty coffee cup? Standing alongside this year’s class of giants?

There’s David Fallis, the Pulitzer-winning Washington Post editor who knows about Fallis, Oklahoma. Vicki Monks, whose Peabody Award sits alongside bylines in Rolling Stone, BBC, and Vogue. The Ogle family—Kevin, Kent, Kelly, and their late father Jack—receiving a Lifetime Achievement honor that spans generations of Oklahoma broadcasting. And the luminous Louisa McCune, who transformed Oklahoma Today into required reading and published the ethereally inspiring outsized magazine, Art Desk, before her untimely passing last year. (Over lunch at Luther’s 116, with our mutual friend and writer Mary Logan, Louisa got so excited about our town’s potential that I walked away with renewed hope and energy.)

Joe Hight, director and member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame said 350 guests are expected at Friday night’s dinner and induction ceremony in Edmond.

“Induction into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame is the highest honor for any journalist in this state. And, if you look at the individuals represented in this year’s classes and the members who will attend this year, it’s also one of the highest in the country. Longtime member Joe Carter has said that induction into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame is based on your achievements and lifetime of work, not on your money. That makes me even prouder when thinking of this year of the individuals who will join the more than 500 members already in this prestigious organization,” he said.

Imposter Syndrome Is Not My Boss

Meanwhile, there’s me: a small-town solopreneur publisher of a digital news site who still gets misty remembering her KTOK morning drive days with Billie Rodely. A journalist who’s covered executions and manhunts but would rather write about your grandma’s pie recipe than the lawsuit bond fight at the school (but I will). Someone who believes in the Oxford comma but not in paywalls, even as my business limps along on reader support, advertising invoices that I never manage to send, and stubbornness.

The Stories That Stick

They asked for career highlights for the ceremony video. I could have talked about being a news director at our college radio station (KOCC) when the Berlin Wall fell, or that gruesome Luther double murder that turned into an unexpected beautiful friendship with the victims’ daughter. But what stays with me are the quiet moments—helping our police chief’s family write his wife’s obituary through tears and laughter, or how we dream about Luther’s small businesses revival and our Route 66 hook.

This honor isn’t about me. It’s about every journalist who chases truth on a shoestring budget, gets ghosted by PR flaks and state agency directors, who believes local news matters even when algorithms say otherwise. It’s for the reporters who still get that warm feeling when a lead comes together, and the readers who support it. It’s about Luther.

The Business of News (and Why It’s Worth It)

Let’s be real: Journalism is a terrible business model. I’ll never install a paywall, even as website costs balloon. (Want to help? Buy Me a Coffee—literally.) Social media fills the void with chaos. Yet someone’s gotta document the fires, scandals, obituaries, and triumphs—even if the paycheck’s more “labor of love” than “livable wage.” So thank you, Luther. Thank you, Hall of Fame voters. Thank you to my family who cheers me on. And thank you to every journalist who runs toward the story, caffeine and notebook in hand. Friday night, I’ll be fangirling harder than a Thunder playoff crowd—honored to join the ink-stained ranks. —dawn shelton