BLOOMINGTON — The Albert Lea Tribune took home 10 awards Thursday evening at the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association banquet at Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington.

The honors, for the Better Newspaper Contest, included first place among all newspapers for a prestigious community service honor. Awards were for work performed between September 2016 and August 2017.

The Lynn Smith Community Leadership Award recognizes local leadership initiatives that were encouraged, initiated or promoted by a newspaper. Leadership actions may have caused something positive to happen or may have presented something negative from happening.

The Tribune won for its role in the Albert Lea splash pad project. Tribune Publisher Crystal Miller and Managing Editor Sarah Stultz worked with a committee of five other people who planned, promoted and organized multiple fundraising events, solicited donations from residents and businesses and ultimately raised more than $150,000 for the project. The splash pad was installed last summer and opened shortly after.

“Great way to get the community working together on a large project,” the judge wrote. “Awesome continued coverage.”

The Tribune previously won first place for the award in 2010 and 2012.

Photographer and reporter Colleen Harrison won first place among daily newspapers under 10,000 in circulation in the Social Issues Story category for a three-part series and a video she created called “Stop the Silence.” The series included firsthand accounts of domestic violence in the community, along with interviews with local professionals.

“Well organized,” the judge wrote. “Great blending of firsthand accounts and professional sources. Video a nice addition to personalize sources.”

The Tribune won three advertising awards, including a second-place award for Advertising Excellence among dailies under 10,000 circulation.

Graphic designer Kathy Johnson, Retail Advertising Manager Angie Hoffman and Miller won second place among all dailies in the Self-Promotion or House Ad category for an advertisement titled “Telling your story for 120 years” that depicted a historic image of Tribune employees.

“Simple, clean and straight to the point,” the judge wrote.

Johnson also won third place in the Use of Color in Advertising among all dailies for an advertisement she created for Albert Lea Electric.

“You can practically feel the heat emanating from this lightbulb, and you get a warm, old-fashioned, glowy feeling about Albert Lea look at this,” the judge wrote. “It is the most appropriate color hue in the contest, for sure.”

In addition, the Tribune won third place for Sports Reporting, third place for Editorial Page as a Whole and third place for Explanation of News Operation or Newspaper Ethics for daily newspapers under 10,000.

The Explanation of News Operation or Newspaper Ethics award was for the Tribune’s coverage of the switchover to mail delivery.

The newspaper won second place among all daily newspapers for its website and third place among all daily newspapers for Best Magazine for the July/August 2017 issue of Albert Lea Magazine.