Fantasy college sports have grabbed a lot of attention over the past few months, following the announcement from CBSSports.com that it would give names to the players in its college football game.

Because of the growing interest in college fantasy contests, the Fantasy Sports Writers Association is recognizing a top college writer for the first time in the five-year history of its writer awards.

John Baker, who spent his first season handling college football for SportsBuff.com in 2008, is competing with ESPN’s Will Harris and RotoWire’s Adam Mankuta for the inaugural trophy. SportsBuff.com, of course, is part of the company that also owns this site.

The FSWA will announce the winners on the first day of next week’s FSTA winter business conference. The association also plans to begin naming a college football fantasy player of the year in 2009.

Like its auto racing counterpart, the FSWA award for top fantasy basketball writer will not see a repeat winner. It will definitely, however, go to someone from one of the industry’s most-visited sites.

The honor has been given out for the past two seasons, and neither of the two honorees — Andre’ Snellings of RotoWire and some dude you’ve probably never heard of from ESPN — shows up among this year’s finalists.

Instead, the Best Basketball Writer category comprises Steve Alexander of Rotoworld, Matt Buser of Yahoo! and Sergio Gonzalez of CBS Sports.

The FSWA awards will be announced on the first day of next week’s FSTA winter business conference in Florida.

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association has awarded a top racing writer for the past three years. Each time that honoree has been Christopher Harris, a jack of many fantasy trades for ESPN.

This yearh, however, will not present Harris with his fourth trophy, as he did not make the list of finalists released late Sunday night by the FSWA.

Instead, a first-time winner will come from the group that includes Natalie Anthony of Football Diehards, Scott Engel of RotoExperts and Mark Taylor of RotoWire.

The FSWA will give out its awards on the first day of the FSTA winter conference next Tuesday.

In its three years of existence, the FSWA’s award for best fantasy golf writer has gone to three different people. Just one of them has a chance to add to his trophy room this month.

Ross Devonport of CBS Sports took home the 2007 award and is among the three finalists again this year. He is joined by a pair of writers from RotoWire: John McNamara and Greg Vara.

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association will give out its awards on the first day of the FSTA winter business conference, next Tuesday.