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Directions 2023: Lincoln businesses celebrate regional, national honors

From the Directions 2023: Progress in Lincoln is moving full speed ahead series

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The Lincoln Youth Complex, including turfed fields for youth baseball and softball tournaments, will be built north of Oak Lake.

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The Journal Star invited readers to share honors that businesses or employees received as best of state, region or nation. Also included is a recap of the major awards presented by business organizations locally.

A long-anticipated project to make Lincoln more competitive in the youth sports tourism market announced in 2022 was honored with the Tom Lorenz Tourism Award by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.

The Lincoln Youth Complex, estimated to cost $27 million, will offer eight artificial turf fields for baseball and softball use, including stadiums that will be home to Nebraska Wesleyan University teams.

The complex to be built on land north of Oak Lake Park that's southeast of the intersection of First Street and Cornhusker Highway is being funded roughly equally with private and public dollars, including COVID-19 stimulus funds.

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According to market studies, officials said the complex could bring 100,000 new visitors to the city and have a $9 million economic impact in its first year.

NGC, a commercial general contracting firm that is among the country's 40 largest hotel builders, received the Cornerstone Award at the chamber's annual Celebrate Business Awards luncheon.

Among NGC's notable Lincoln projects are renovations of the Terminal Building and Atrium, construction of the Holiday Inn Express at Ninth and O streets and the addition of several mixed-use buildings in the Telegraph District.

The chamber's top individual award, the Roger T. Larson Community Builder Award, went to University of Nebraska Regent Tim Clare.

Other companies winning Celebrate Business Awards were: Maven Tile & Stone (small business), Bison (manufacturer), Arbor Day Carbon LLC (green business) and Sentinel Fertigation (entrepreneurial spirit).

Seven members of the community, ages 21 to 40, were honored with Young Lincoln Leader Awards by the Lincoln Young Professionals Group in 2022.

Mike Smith, co-founder of Rabble Mill which includes The Bay, was named the group's young professional of the year. Other individuals honored included Jazari Kual of Kualdom Creations (young citizen), Angela Garbacz of Goldenrod Pastries (young entrepreneur), Katie Patrick of Catholic Social Services (young nonprofit professional), Tut Kailech of NeighborWorks (emerging leader) and Nathan He of the Nebraska Alumni Association (diversity and inclusive excellence).

Lutz was honored as the group's next generation workplace.

Sampson Construction, which celebrated its 70th year in business in 2022, was the Salute to Business honoree selected by the combined Rotary Clubs in Lincoln. The family-owned business has grown to include 300 employees with offices in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming.

Firespring, a Lincoln company which provides solutions in marketing, printing and technology to help businesses and nonprofits prosper, was among the 300 Top Impact Companies selected by Real Leaders.

Vivayic, a Lincoln-based learning solutions company, won four 2022 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards in joint submissions with clients Farm Credit Services of America, National Pork Board, University of Missouri and Feeding America. The award program recognizes organizations that have achieved measurable results through investment in people.

Synbiotic Health, formed by researchers at the University of Nebraska and headquartered on Nebraska Innovation Campus, was honored with the Governor's Bioscience Award for significant contributions to better understanding microbiology and food science.

An employee-owned business in Lincoln, Commonwealth Electric Company of the Midwest, was honored with AACE Awards for first place in Series of Events and second place in Video. Commonwealth's first-place honor was based on its Olympics-themed month of activities promoting the core values of its ownership committee.

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Directions 2023: Progress in Lincoln is moving full speed ahead

Julie Koch

News content coordinator

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The Lincoln Youth Complex, including turfed fields for youth baseball and softball tournaments, will be built north of Oak Lake.