Douglas County businesses will have a new chance to receive a pat on the back later this year.

Lawrence Chamber of Commerce officials announced Thursday details of a new awards program that will honor four area businesses in October.

The program, tentatively named the Industry of the Year Awards, will be at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 17 at a location to be determined, said Lynn Parman, vice president of economic development for the chamber.

The awards will honor a manufacturer of the year, a technology company of the year, a retail company of the year and a services company of the year.

“We want to provide some recognition to businesses that are excelling in their industry, but we also really want to broaden the community’s understanding of the vibrant businesses we have in Douglas County,” Parman said.

Parman said she also hoped the awards program would boost Lawrence’s image with outside companies and business officials.

“The external reason to do this is that it sends a message to the corporate offices of those companies that they are important to us,” Parman said.

All companies in Douglas County will be eligible for the awards. The chamber will send out nomination forms in early July. Companies may nominate themselves or other companies.

A committee of 15 people, made up of chamber staff and members of other business organizations like the Kansas University Small Business Development Center and the Lawrence Regional Technology Center, will review the nominations.

Three finalists from each category will be selected, and a video crew will film a presentation at each company to be shown at the awards ceremony. Winners won’t be notified until the morning of the event.

From left, Stacy Smith and Jay Johnson, M-Pact employees, get their hot dogs during the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's first of four business recognition events in June. The Hot Dogs 'N Thanks event was Thursday at M-Pact in Eudora. Heather Ackerly of the chamber is at right. The chamber announced on Thursday a new awards program to honor area businesses.

“We want to create a little bit of excitement and suspense,” Parman said. “It will be kind of like the Oscars, and this way we’ll actually be recognizing at least 12 different companies.”

Parman said the winners would be chosen based on how well they scored in four categories. The categories are business stability and growth, accomplishments within the industry, community involvement, and quality of life for their employees.

Chamber officials announced details of the program as they began to kick off other events to recognize June as the state’s Business Appreciation Month.

The chamber played host Thursday afternoon to the first of four Hot Dog -N- Thanks events at the Eudora business park. The event provides a hot dog lunch to employees in and around the business park.

The chamber will be host to other events on June 13 at the Berry Plastics parking lot, 2330 Packer Road; June 20 at the Brown Cargo Van parking lot, 807 E. 29th St.; and the Sauer-Danfoss parking lot, 3840 E. Greenway Drive.

The chamber also announced its nominations for the state’s business of the year awards, which will be announced Tuesday. Those nominees are Hallmark Cards in the manufacturing category, Brown Cargo Van in the manufacturing category, Minuteman Press in the service category, and Huxtable & Associates in the service category.

Next year, the winners of the chamber’s new award program will be automatically nominated for the state awards.