Back home from the latest Fantasy Sports Trade Association winter conference, we’ll have material over the next few days covering some of the stuff learned.

At the end of a Wednesday gobbled up by travel and family time, though, we’ll pass along the winners of the most recent set of FSTA awards (in bold):

MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Grid Iron Fantasy Sports — VuFantasyFootball.com
World Fantasy Games — RapidDraft Fantasy Football Weekly app
RotoWorld — Draftmaster software; Season Pass; Online Fantasy Draft Guides
Fantasy Football Crystal Ball
Head2Head Sports — Injury/Bye Protection
RotoExperts.com — Fantasy Grinder
RotoWire.com — Fantasy Football Draft Kit (mobile)
FantasyPros
LeagueSafe
NFL.com — Fantasy Football 2010

MOST INNOVATIVE CONTEST
RotoExperts.com — Upset Challenge
World Fantasy Games — RapidDraft
Athlon — Pro+College Fantasy Football
NFL.com — Fantasy Playoff Challenge

MOST OUTSTANDING AD
NFL.com — TV spot
MyFantasyLeague.com — print ad
RapidDraft.com (World Fantasy Games) — Week 17 Twitter mock draft
ESPN — campaigns for fantasy baseball, Tournament Challenge and fantasy football
FootballDiehards.com — print-Web promotion

MOST OUTSTANDING CONTEST
NFL.com
FanDuel
CBSSports.com — Free Fantasy Football
World Fantasy Games
Fanball.com — Diamond Challenge Fantasy Baseball
WCOFF

MOST UNIQUE/OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT or CONTEST
Baseball HQ — First Pitch Forums
WCOFF
NFL.com — Fantasy Live webcast
Head2Head — The Draft 2010
FanDuel — Fantasy Football Championship
RapidDraft.com (WFG) — RapidDraft Weekly

UNIQUE AD
NFL.com — “Dots” TV spot
FootballDiehards.com — print-Web promotion
RapidDraft.com (WFG) — Twitter mock draft

MOST VALUABLE CONTENT
Fantasy Sherpa
CBSSports.com
RotoWorld
ESPN
RotoExperts
Baseball HQ
RotoWire
The Huddle
XML Team
RapidDraft News (WFG)
NFL.com
FFSpin.com
FFToolbox.com
GodfatherofFantasySports.com (Charlie Wiegert’s blog)

MOST VALUABLE TOOL
RotoLab
NFL.com — Bloomberg Decision Maker; NFL.com Fantasy Tour
FantasyPros
Competitive Sports Analysis — scoutPRO
Fantasy Football Crystal Ball
RotoExperts.com
RapidDraft.com — Fantasy Football Weekly app
CBSSports.com — Fantasy Football Commissioner
RTSports.com — online draft room
Fantistics — Fantasy Draft Assistance Tool: Baseball; Football
RotoWorld — DraftMaster
MyFantasyLeague.com
Advanced Sports Media — Draft Analyzer

ROOKIE of the YEAR
FFSpin.com
FaGames
NFL.com — Fantasy Football 2010
FantasyPros
Competitive Sports Analysis
Gridiron Fantasy Sports — VuFantasyFootball.com
Joe Namath (World Fantasy Games)

We shared previously the group of finalists for the 2010 FSWA awards, to be handed out Tuesday night during the FSTA winter conference. Another central annual feature of the winter conference is the FSTA awards.

This year’s Fantasy Sports Trade Association process didn’t include the same whittling of nominees to finalists as the Writers Association did, but it’s still interesting to take a look at some of the key players and new entrants into the industry from the previous year.

With that in mind, here’s the full list of eligible FSTA nominees, most with links to their nominations. There you can read the pitch to voters and see samples of the products and services entered …

Most Innovative Fantasy Product or Service
Grid Iron Fantasy Sports — VuFantasyFootball.com
World Fantasy Games — RapidDraft Fantasy Football Weekly app
RotoWorld — Draftmaster software; Season Pass; Online Fantasy Draft Guides
Fantasy Football Crystal Ball
Head2Head Sports — Injury/Bye Protection
RotoExperts.com — Fantasy Grinder
RotoWire.com — Fantasy Football Draft Kit (mobile)
FantasyPros
LeagueSafe
NFL.com — Fantasy Football 2010

Most Innovative Fantasy Contest
RotoExperts.com — Upset Challenge
World Fantasy Games — RapidDraft
Athlon — Pro+College Fantasy Football
NFL.com — Fantasy Playoff Challenge

Most Outstanding Fantasy Advertisement
NFL.com — TV spot
MyFantasyLeague.com — print ad
RapidDraft.com (World Fantasy Games) — Week 17 Twitter mock draft
ESPN — campaigns for fantasy baseball, Tournament Challenge and fantasy football
FootballDiehards.com — print-Web promotion

Most Outstanding Fantasy Contest
NFL.com
FanDuel
CBSSports.com — Free Fantasy Football
World Fantasy Games
Fanball.com — Diamond Challenge Fantasy Baseball
WCOFF

Most Unique and Outstanding Live Event or Contest
Baseball HQ — First Pitch Forums
WCOFF
NFL.com — Fantasy Live webcast
Head2Head — The Draft 2010
FanDuel — Fantasy Football Championship
RapidDraft.com (WFG) — RapidDraft Weekly

Most Unique Fantasy Advertisement
NFL.com — “Dots” TV spot
FootballDiehards.com — print-Web promotion
RapidDraft.com (WFG) — Twitter mock draft

Most Valuable Fantasy Content
Fantasy Sherpa
CBSSports.com
RotoWorld
ESPN
RotoExperts
Baseball HQ
RotoWire
The Huddle
XML Team
RapidDraft News (WFG)
NFL.com
FFSpin.com
FFToolbox.com
GodfatherofFantasySports.com (Charlie Wiegert’s blog)

Most Valuable Fantasy Tool
RotoLab
NFL.com — Bloomberg Decision Maker; NFL.com Fantasy Tour
FantasyPros
Competitive Sports Analysis — scoutPRO
Fantasy Football Crystal Ball
RotoExperts.com
RapidDraft.com — Fantasy Football Weekly app
CBSSports.com — Fantasy Football Commissioner
RTSports.com — online draft room
Fantistics — Fantasy Draft Assistance Tool: Baseball; Football
RotoWorld — DraftMaster
MyFantasyLeague.com
Advanced Sports Media — Draft Analyzer

Rookie of the Year
FFSpin.com
FaGames
NFL.com — Fantasy Football 2010
FantasyPros
Competitive Sports Analysis
Gridiron Fantasy Sports — VuFantasyFootball.com
Joe Namath (World Fantasy Games)

Those of us in the fantasy sports industry don’t do our thing for awards. We do it for the sake of our customers.

And awards.

These last couple of weeks on the calendar can be a particularly busy time for everyone — except maybe for Jehovah’s witnesses who don’t follow the NFL? I don’t know — so we thought it helpful to toss out a quick reminder on awards deadlines.

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association has had it’s submission process open since the middle of November, with the deadline approaching on Dec. 24. (That’s this Friday, for those of you who prefer to make your Christmas shopping as hectic and uncomfortable as possible.) You must be a FSWA member to be eligible for all but the Newcomer of the Year award, and nominations can be submitted here (in 15 categories):

FSWA nomination form

Those awards will be handed out at the January FSTA winter business conference in Las Vegas, along with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association’s Industry Recognition Awards.

The FSTA submission process has also begun, and is similarly open only to FSTA members. Whereas the FSWA honors focus primarily on individuals, the FSTA awards center on companies, contests, etc. Nominations can be entered for the nine categories here (through Jan. 5):

FSTA nomination form

In each case, non-members can become eligible for awards by joining the appropriate organization.

A roundup of items recently posted on the FSB News page.

– We provided a short report Wednesday on CBS Sports winning the 2009 football rankings Accuracy Challenge, run by the Fantasy Football Librarian. Well, here’s much more information on the competition and the finishers via the Librarian’s post on The New York Times’ “Fifth Down” blog. A full list of participants can be found on the FF Librarian blog.

– KFFL didn’t win any of the Accuracy Challenge categories but did finish an impressive second in both the baseball and football stat-projection portions. Aside from making sure that everyone was aware of that, KFFL’s Nicholas Minnix took the time to name the various people who have contributed.

– The BlogTalkRadio folks have reason to be happy after their Fantasy Sports Channel took home two Fantasy Sports Trade Association awards at the winter conference in Las Vegas this week.

– I would never classify myself as a “gamer,” so the Blood Bowl concept doesn’t really appeal to me. That isn’t to say, of course, that a gory football game featuring orcs and other fantasy creatures isn’t interesting. It also can’t hurt Kyle Turley to have another league in which he qualifies.

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).