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

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.