Nominations for the Greater Austin Chamber's 2005 Business Awards hit an all-time high with 146 companies being nominated for excellence! This is the largest number of nominations received since the Chamber inaugurated the Business Awards event in 2001. These companies now have the chance to win awards that will be given to small, medium, large and non-profit businesses in the categories of Commitment to Community, Innovative Business, Customer Service and Commitment to Education, a new award category created this year. In addition to vying for one of the category awards, non-profits will also be competing for the $5,000 Freescale Non-Profit Award.

The Fifth Annual Chamber Business Awards will be held Wednesday, August 24, at the Hilton Austin, 500 East Fourth Street. Known for its festive party atmosphere, the event is expected to play host to more than 600 people. This year's theme, centered around the “Swing Era”, will feature a 17-piece orchestra and singer performing all the big band hits with swing dance performers twisting and twirling the night away. Registration begins at 6 p.m., with dinner and entertainment lasting from 7 to 9 p.m.

Awards will be presented by Chamber Chair Kirk Watson of Watson, Bishop, London & Brophy and Chair-Elect Tim Crowley, Austin Community Banking President of Frost Bank.

The companies that have received nominations are: Admobile, Adventures in Texas, Airport Fast Park, American Cancer Society, Ariel Art Galleries, Assistance League of Austin, atsec information security corporation, Austin Bar Association, Austin Biofuels Inc., Austin Community College, Austin Habitat for Humanity, Austin RentAll Party, Avenue One Properties, Baker Botts, Ballet Austin, Berlitz Language, Big Austin, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Blabber Mouth PR, Breakthrough Austin, Broaddus and Associates, Capital Area Food Bank, Capitol Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, Capitol Metropolitan Trans, Authority, Career Consultants Staffing Services, Caritas, Child, Inc., Coldwell Banker united Realtors, Cole & Powell, Costco, Crescent Real Estate, David Weekly Homes, Deloitte & Touche, DPR Construction, Easter Seals Central Texas, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, ETS Global Chauffered Services, FG Squared, Fleishman-Hillard, Foundation Communities, Freebirds World Burrito, Get the Picture, Inc., Girl Scouts, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, Hard Rock Café, HEB, Herman Miller Workplace Resource, Herman, Howry & Breen, Higginbotham & Associates, Hispanic Scholarship Consortium, Hong Kong Supermarket, Hoover's, Horizon Staffing Services, Housing Authority of the City of Austin, Impact Austin, Invesmart, Inc., IWayLoan, Joe Bland Construction, Journyx, Junior League of Austin, Keep Austin Beautiful, Kenti, Young, Ozias & Associates, Kirby Hall, KLRU, Kolar Advertising, KPI Consulting, KTBC Fox 7, KXAN, Laughing Out Loud Productions, Leads Customer Growth, LifeU, Inc., March of Dimes, Marketplace Austin, Marriton Transportation, McGarrah Jesse, Meals on Wheels, Nad Tech, New England Financial, Parkside Community, Perficient, Preserved Flowers, Inc., Print Depot, QuantumMail.com, Inc., Raba-Kistner Consultants, Real Estate Council, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas, Rumbo de Austin, RunTex, Ruth Chris Steak house, San Juan Diego Catholic High School, Sematech, Seton Health Care, Sign Tech International, Site Controls, Inc., Skill Point Alliance, Smarter Solutions, Inc., Spaw Glass, Special Olympics Texas, St. Theresa's School, State Bank, Steam Team, Superior Health Plan, Susan Speaks, Texas Culinary Academy, TG, Time Warner Cable,Tokyo Electronic, Truluck's Seafood Steak & Crab House, Turner Collie & Braden, United Heritage, Uptime Devices, Inc., Velocity Credit Union, Waggener Edstrom, Washington Mutual, WayPort Inc, Wells Fargo, WorkSource, Yellow Cab, Youth and Family Alliance, dba LifeWorks

The Chamber thanks Title sponsor: Freescale Semiconductor. Media Sponsors: KTBC-FOX 7, the Austin Business Journal and KMFA. Sustaining Sponsors: Bracewell & Guiliani, LLP, Jolly Design, LCRA, Raba-Kistner Consultants, Inc. and Wachovia Bank, N.A. Contributing Sponsors: St. David's Foundation, Temple-Inland, Inc., Colliers Oxford Commercial and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.