BLOOMINGTON — The Albert Lea Tribune took home nine awards Thursday at the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association banquet.

The honors, for the Better Newspaper Contest, included a first-place award for Photography as a Whole for daily newspapers under 10,000 circulation and second place for the prestigious Lynn Smith Community Leadership Award.

The 2016 banquet handed out awards for work performed between September 2014 and August 2015.

Tribune Photo Editor Colleen Harrison took home five individual awards. Harrison won first place in the category of News Photo and Sports Photo, second place in the categories of Social Issues Story and Best Use of Video, and third place in the Feature Photo category. The Tribune competed with other daily newspapers under 10,000 circulation for all but one of the categories. For the video category, Harrison competed against all newspapers.

The photo that won in the News Photo category was from the funeral of South Sudanese pastor and community leader Simon Dup.

“Captures the emotion of the day; tells the story well,” the judges wrote. “Great composition.”

The winning sports photo was of Albert Lea’s Garrett Aldrich, who won the Class AA state wrestling title for the second year in a row last February.

“Incredible moment and, as the photographer, being straight on for this shot is amazing,” the judges wrote.

Harrison’s third-place feature photo was of a hug between a young girl and Albert Lean Dave Mullenbach as Santa.

Harrison’s story about Albert Lea High School graduate James Shaman’s struggle with deportation won the Social Issues Story award, and the Best Use of Video award was for a video Harrison made of Holocaust survivor Anita Dittman, who came to speak in Ellendale about her experiences.

“First-hand knowledge of the horrors she endured through Hitler’s regime was powerful, and hopefully the memoir she wrote will teach people what can happen,” the judges wrote.

The video with Dittman can be viewed here.

Managing Editor Sarah Stultz took home two awards in the Local Breaking News Story category.

She won second place for a story about human remains found off of Interstate 90 last April.

“Very clearly presented,” the judges wrote. “Does a great job explaining why the body may or may not hint at foul play.”

Stultz won third place for a story about the fire near Manchester that killed 79-year-old Edson Lebeck last February.

“Provides a solid and heartbreaking narrative,” the judges wrote. “Clear and thorough reporting.”

The second place Lynn Smith Community Leadership Award was for an ongoing series in the Tribune titled “Meeting the Workforce Challenge.” The series looked at the area’s workforce shortage and what area businesses and Riverland Community College are doing to solve the problem.

The series drew attention from state legislators.