National financial newsletter Emerging Manager Monthly has picked a Columbus, Ind.-based mutual fund as manager of the year in its category.

Kirr Marbach & Co.’s value fund experienced growth that was double that of the Standard & Poor’s 500 and other indexes with returns of 36 percent in 2010. Its two-year returns for the period ending March 31 were 54 percent.

That’s a big improvement from 2008, when the fund saw a near-45-percent decline. In an interview late last year, Mark Foster, Kirr Marbach’s chief investment officer, said investing in companies with a presence in growing overseas markets helped boost the company’s success.

Kirr Marbach was recognized several times in The Wall Street Journal’s list of top-performing funds in 2010.

Emerging Manager Monthly chose seven firms as the best managers in several categories. About 380 funds were considered for the awards.