For anyone who didn’t attend this week’s Fantasy Sports Trade Association winter business conference, I’m pleased to announce that FantasySportsBusiness.com took home the prize for Best New Website.

I feel tremendously honored to have seen this site selected from a very strong field, including the decisively moving and attention-grabbing RotoExperts; AOL’s Fanhouse, which has since become a standalone site and added some big-name bloggers; CBS Sports’ highly publicized shift in fantasy college football; and the latest innovation from fantasy sports veteran Paul Charchian (LeagueSafe).

We launched back at the end of July with the mission to give a flourishing industry the kind of coverage it deserves. We strive to uncover, collect and share industry news. We tell the stories of the people and businesses that make the fantasy community grow and offer views on issues such as the role of race in the fantasy market and what fantasy really means for the NCAA. We also want to be a repository for job opportunities and events.

Thank you to all of our readers for helping us get to this point, even if you weren’t eligible for the FSTA voting or voted for someone else. We hope to continue to provide you with the kind of coverage that will keep bringing you back. If you’re new to FSB.com, sign up for our RSS or daily e-mail feed right on the homepage and bring all the important and interesting industry info to you. Facebook users can join our growing group there, while everyone can look for more ways to connect in the near future.

Beyond that, we’d like to hear from you. If your company has some news or a job opening that you’d like to get in front of industry leaders — or even if you just want to suggest a profile subject — let us know via the contact form or direct e-mail. I can guarantee we won’t run with every press release sent our way or follow each profile suggestion, but we’ll take a look at all of them. Of course, if you just think there’s something we’re doing wrong or could do better, we’d certainly like to hear that as well.

Thanks once again for your time and attention. May 2009 see our industry continue its upward trend.

Aside from RotoWire’s six victories, just two other companies grabbed more than one plaque during the Fantasy Sports Writers Association ceremony on Tuesday.

CBS Sports tripled its 2007 take by claiming three prizes, while Sporting News grabbed two of its own.

For CBS, Sergio Gonzalez became the third different winner of the top basketball writer award in the three years taht title has been given out. Scott White’s win for best football series also marked the third different victor in that category in as many years. Rounding out the CBS triumphs was Dave Richard for best major-media football article.

Sporting News fantasy editor George Winkler emerged victorious in the football series category, while Matt Lutovsky beat out SN colleague Bill Bender for the title of best major-media baseball article.

Winners were announced on the first full day of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association winter business conference. Only FSWA members are eligible to win.

Here are the full listings for the categories mentioned above:

Basketball Writer
Steve Alexander, Rotoworld
Matt Buser, Yahoo
Sergio Gonzalez, CBS Sports

Baseball Series
Jason Grey, ESPN
Tommy Landry, RotoExperts
Scott White, CBS Sports

Baseball Major Media Article
Bill Bender, Sporting News
Christopher Harris, ESPN
Matt Lutovsky, Sporting News

Football Series
Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports
Gregg Rosenthal, Rotoworld
George Winkler, Sporting News

Football Major Media Article
Dave Richard, CBS Sports
Evan Silva, Rotoworld/NBC
Mark St. Amant, Rotoworld/NBC

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association gave out its 2008 honors on Tuesday at the FSTA winter business conference, and a third of them went to RotoWire.

Repeat victories in the categories of best baseball print publication and best baseball writer (Jeff Erickson) led an effort that garnered six plaques in all for the company. It was the second straight year that RotoWire claimed six awards. No other company earned more than three this time around.

This year’s haul also included writer of the year nods in golf, racing and college sports — the first time that last category has been included in the FSWA program. The lone surprise might have been that RotoWire’s Janet Eagleson ceded the award for top hockey writer to someone else (ESPN’s Sean Allen) for the first time in the category’s three-year existence.

“I’m shocked and surprised since it was a very strong field with a lot of outstanding writers,” RotoWire president Peter Schoenke told FSB.com on Wednesday. “I’m very happy for the first-time winners on our staff and proud that both our top editors for MLB and NFL won awards.”

The FSWA has been giving out awards since 2004. Entries are whittled down to finalists by the board of directors, with winners determined by a panel of three independent judges. This year, that panel included Wisconsin-Stevens Point journalism professor Dr. Steven Hill, Ithaca College journalism professor and Society of Professional Journalists board member Mead Loop, and longtime sports columnist for the Washington Post Len Shapiro.

Here is a full list of Rotowire’s 2008 honors and the finalists in each category:

Baseball Print Publication
CBS Sports
RotoWire
Rotoworld

Baseball Writer
Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN
Jeff Erickson, RotoWire
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo

Football Web Article
Greg Kellogg, Fantasy Sharks
Chris Liss, RotoWire
Jeff Pasquino, Footballguys.com

Golf Writer
Ross Devonport, CBS Sports
John McNamara, RotoWire
Greg Vara, RotoWire

Racing Writer
Natalie Anthony, Football Diehards
Scott Engel, RotoExperts
Mark Taylor, RotoWire

College Writer
John Baker, SportsBuff.com
Will Harris, ESPN
Adam Mankuta, RotoWire

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– Roto Times’ Brian Polking (about as good a last name as a NASCAR writer could hope for) writes that the economic downturn and subsequent strain on sponsorships in NASCAR is making for a tougher season in fantasy auto racing leagues.

– Kevin Orris of Fantasy Pros 911 wants to hear your fantasy baseball story.

– Sporting News has been working aggressively to minimize the impact on its business of print media’s marginalization.The most visible effort over the past year has been the creation of the daily e-mail newspaper, Sporting News Today, but the parent company is also stepping up e-mail campaigns and search engine optimization to drive consumers to its site.

– Tough to say for sure whether this is a ranking on Sports Business Journal’s site, but Eric Fisher’s list of digital sports media sectors being pitched to venture capital firms certainly seems to be. Checking in at No. 2 — right behind social media — is fantasy. It’d be nice to know if this is a list of the most popular, the most effective or both, but we know this: Fantasy is a major player these days.