Barton James Barcel will be one of 50 business people named in Friday's Wall Street Journal as state business people of the year.

Barcel said he got a call from Washington, D.C., recently saying he had been nominated for the Nebraska Business Man of the year award.

"I was kind of surprised because mostly I typically know where my interests lie.  It totally caught me off guard," Barcel said.

He was notified he had won the award and will travel to Washington this summer to receive the honor.

Barcel is the co-owner of Barcel Landscape Products, Inc. and Barcel Mill & Lumber Co. in rural Bellwood, two miles east of the junction of U.S. Highway 81 and state Highway 64.