Nominees sought for Lantern Awards

A lantern radiates light as a means to guide those looking for a way ahead.

The Louisiana Department of Economic Development, or Louisiana Economic Development (LED), annually hands out its Lantern Awards to manufacturing businesses in the state that have demonstrated high economic growth and strong involvement in their respective communities for the three years prior to the date the award is given.

The trophy, which is an actual handcrafted copper and Louisiana cypress lantern, “itself is a standard of excellence,” said Skip Smart, LED’s director of community development. “People who receive it display it proudly.”

A brass plate with the recipient’s name is attached to the trophy.

LED is accepting 2007 Lantern Awards nominations through Thursday, April 12, for the South Central Planning & Development District covering Terrebonne, Lafourche, Assumption, St. John, St. James and St. Charles parishes. The department hands out one prize each for the Louisiana Association of Planning and Development District’s (LAPDD) eight regional districts.

Nomination form packages can be accessed at www.LAPDD.org, and deposited at P.O. Box 1870 in Gray. Anyone may post a nomination.

“Manufacturing is a significant component of our economic base,” Smart said. “It is appropriate to recognize their contributions to the state.”

Though the LAPDD, in a press release, states that the Lantern Awards “recognize businesses who demonstrate excellence in manufacturing and community involvement,” the association emphasizes heavily the manufacturing proficiency part of a nominee’s record in determining an award winner. The “community involvement” portion represents only 10 percent of the total points used in deciding a recipient.

The criteria for deciding a manufacturer’s worthiness include having the candidate “indicate the growth in number of employees over the past three calendar years” under the heading “employee growth/plant investments/sales,” and requesting the nominee to “indicate the dollar amount of expansions over the past three calendar years,” according to the nomination form.

The award also takes into account a business’s “efforts… to purchase raw materials and supplies within the state,” the form says.

Examples of promoting community involvement would include “manufacturers lead(ing) in cleanup for certain areas of a community, involvement in the Chamber of Commerce, and fund-raising with the United Way or cancer drives,” Smart said.

LED has been awarding its Lantern prize since 1979, “except for 2006 when they were interrupted by the two storms,” he said.

Past recipients of a Lantern Award for the South Central Region have included marine products maker TBW Industries of Houma in 1982, seafood processor Motivatit Seafood of Houma in 1988, and Thibodaux’s Amy’s Country Candles in 2002. Undersea equipment producer Oceaneering Intl., Inc., of Morgan City won in 2001.

The Lantern Awards presentation ceremony will be held Tuesday, June 5, at the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge.

“Gov. Blanco will attend as she has in the past if her schedule permits,” Smart said.