The Lawrence City Commission has approved city grants to fund 14 local events next year, including several athletic events.

The number of applications for sporting events increased significantly this year, with one-third of the applications seeking funds for athletic events of some kind.

Athletic events that were awarded funding include a basketball tournament, a long-distance cycling championship, a bowling tournament and a soccer tournament. Long-standing community events also made a good showing, including the Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade, Free State Festival and Lawrence Busker Festival. Those events scored the highest on the city’s rubric.

Director of Arts and Culture Porter Arneill said the grant program received more applications than last year and that the amounts being requested also increased.

“I think it’s clearly becoming more competitive,” Arneill said.

Events whose grant requests were not approved include a native music and comedy festival at Haskell Indian Nations University, a women’s state bowling tournament and a new semiprofessional soccer team.

The grants are awarded from the city’s Transient Guest Tax fund, and the city’s TGT advisory board uses a rubric to score each event and make funding recommendations. In general, Arneill said that more established events tend to score higher. He said the board plans to review the program and rubric next year to see if it can be improved or better balanced.

“One opportunity may be to grow the program, but that’s up to the City Commission in the future,” Arneill said. “In the meantime, I think the board is earnestly trying to figure out ways of maximizing the benefits and assuring that newer programs might have a better opportunity to gain a grant even if they don’t have proven track record.”

Guest tax money comes from a special 6 percent sales tax charged on hotel rooms in Lawrence that is paid in addition to standard sales taxes. The tax was created in 1994, and its proceeds were designated for promoting tourism in Lawrence. In 2016, the city began awarding $150,000 in guest tax funds as part of a formal grant program.

Of the 27 events that applied for a grant from the guest tax fund, 14 received funding. A list of the winning events, their dates and grant amount is as follows, and the full list of applicants is available on the city’s website. Events are listed according to their scores on the city’s scoring rubric, with those scoring the highest at the top.

• Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade, date TBD, $10,000

• Free State Festival, Sept. 25-30, $15,000.

• Lawrence Busker Festival, May 24-27, $15,000.

• Live on Mass 2018, summer 2018, $15,000.

• KU First Nations Student Association Powwow and Cultural Festival, March 29-31, $8,000.

• Theatre Lawrence Holiday Show, Nov. 30-Dec. 16, $15,000.

• Kansas State Fiddling and Picking Championships, Aug. 24-26, $2,425.

• Americana Music Academy Artist-in-Residence, date TBD, $3,250.

• The Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade, March 17, $5,000.

• Hardwood Classic: Session Two, July 26-29, $15,000.

• United States Endurance Cycling Federation Gravel Grinder National Championship, April 6-7, $15,000.

• National African American Quilt Convention, July 11-14, $15,000.

• American Legion & Knights of Columbus Bowling Tournaments; Jan. 6-7, 13-14 and 20-21; Feb. 17-28 and 24-25; and March 3-4; $10,000.

• April Fool’s Futbol Festival, April 13-15, $6,325.