The Star Tribune received two awards for its business news coverage in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers' Best in Business competition, including an award for general excellence.

The awards, announced Friday, honored the best in business journalism for 2011. The Star Tribune's honor for general excellence, its fourth in eight years, came alongside the New York Times and Los Angeles Times among newspapers with Sunday circulation of more than 500,000.

The Star Tribune's second award was for creativity across multiple platforms -- print, online and mobile -- in its coverage of the shutdown of the St. Paul Ford assembly plant in December.

STAFF REPORT