Best of Lawrence winners announced at awards ceremony

The votes have been counted. Now it is time for plates to be filled, shopping sacks to be stuffed and bragging to commence.

From bakers to barbers to bartenders, the winners of Lawrence.com’s Best of Lawrence were announced and honored at a special awards ceremony this evening at Abe & Jake’s Landing in downtown Lawrence.

“We are here tonight to recognize the Best of Lawrence 2014: the places, faces and businesses that do a great job of contributing to the tremendous quality of life in Lawrence,” said Scott Stanford, general manager of the Lawrence Journal-World.

More than 300 businesses were honored in more than 120 categories. Winners were determined through more than 8,100 online votes cast at Lawrence.com, a record number for the contest.

But don’t let those numbers get in the way of the star of the evening: No. 1. Voters were tasked with determining numero uno in all walks of Lawrence life. There were the usual categories such as the best restaurant, the best barbecue and the best fitness center, in case you did a bit too much research on the first two categories. But it wasn’t just businesses that took home hardware. Voters also chose winners in categories such as best local artist, best nonprofit agency and best local event.

“We’re really proud of it,” said Kathy Severa, practice administrator for Family Medicine Associates, 2014 winner for best family doctor in Lawrence. “We work very hard to do our job well and serve the people in Lawrence the way they deserve to be served.”

Kenny Pingleton and Manda Jolly, owners of The Roost, said they had an inkling their restaurant might be named best breakfast in Lawrence but were shocked it won an even bigger award.

“The best breakfast is pretty awesome; that’s what we do,” Pingleton said. “But best new business; we didn’t expect that.”

Check out the list of winners, and look for profiles on all our winners in a special section in Sunday’s Journal-World.

Read up. See if you agree or disagree. Then, there’s only one thing left to do: Start becoming an informed voter for 2015.