At Tuesday night’s annual Society of Professional Journalists awards banquet, the Minnesota Independent was honored with three Page One Awards, including first place prize for “Best Independent News Blog.” In that category, judges wrote that the Minnesota Independent is “ easy to navigate” and offers “lots of supplemental information and good participation from readers.” Also taking home a first was photographer Kathy Easthagen for her photo essay about President Barack Obama’s 2010 rally at the University of Minnesota with then-candidate and current governor Mark Dayton (who gave the keynote speech at last night’s banquet).