Winners will be chosen in five categories:

• Trailblazer: Women who have paved the way for other women, or who were first in their fields.

• Empowerer: Women who have significantly improved the lives of women in San Diego.

• Activist: Women who have created structural change – and shifted our way of thinking and doing – to better women’s lives.

• Cultural Competency: Women who are multi-culturally competent and involved in building bridges, coalitions, and understanding within the communities of San Diego.

• Historian: Women who have kept their culture and history alive, thereby contributing to the maintenance and integrity of the community.

The public is invited to submit nominations online at sandiegowomenshalloffame.com. The deadline is Dec. 31.

Winners will be selected by the Hall of Fame’s planning committee, which includes representatives from the Women’s Museum of California; the Department of Women’s Studies at San Diego State; the county Commission on the Status of Women and Girls; and the Women’s Center at UC San Diego.

They will join about 100 others who have been inducted since 2001, when the hall was created to recognize the accomplishments of local women. The hall is in the Women’s Museum of California, in Liberty Station.

Last year’s winners were Jerrilyn Malana, past president of the county Bar Association; Nellie Andrade, a founder of the local chapter of MANA; Fahari Jeffers, a founder of the United Domestic Workers of America; Dede Alpert, a former state legislator; Carol Jahnkow, longtime executive director of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego; and Janice Martinelli, president of the National City Historical Society.

This year’s honorees will be recognized at a ceremony scheduled for March 3 at 2:30 p.m. at the Joe and Vi Jacobs Center, 404 Euclid Ave. Tickets will go on sale in January.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com