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)

Next week’s FSTA winter conference in Las Vegas figures to have a strong Sirius XM presence.

The satellite radio company that dove into the industry in July with its 24-hour fantasy sports channel will broadcast live the Monday night baseball draft that opens the event. Sirius even started by broadcasting live (during the RotoWire midday show) the Jan. 11 draft-order selection. (Find results on Charlie Wiegert’s Godfather of Fantasy Sports blog.)

Beyond the draft, though, Sirius also plans to do various interviews Tuesday — the conference’s lone full day — for use during its assorted shows and will cover the Tuesday night awards ceremony.

On Tuesday afternoon, Sirius XM senior vice president of sports programming Steve Cohen will also sit down for a one-on-one session with Wiegert.

“The Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Channel is probably the biggest thing that has happened in fantasy sports this past year,” according to the FSTA conference agenda, an idea Wiegert echoed to FSB.com when discussing the conference plans. With the number of familiar fantasy brands it quickly brought on board — along with athletes such as Maurice Jones-Drew and Jeremy Roenick and celebrities such as actor Jerry Ferrara — it’s not hard to understand the reasoning.

Of course, it’s ultimately all about the content, and the Sirius fantasy folks recently put a wrap on their first football season with an awards show, naming the best of the fantasy season as voted on by the channel’s hosts.

That crew agreed with the Fantasy Sports Writers Association membership in tapping Tampa’s Mike Williams as top rookie and Arian Foster as most valuable player.

“Hopefully I proved that I can be a featured back in this league,” Foster told Sirius XM host Anita Marks during the awards show. “I’m not sure there’s much else you can do as a running back to prove that you can [be] a feature back.”

The Sirius voters — many of whom are also FSWA members — also agreed with Michael Vick as the top quarterback, Roddy White as the No. 1 receiver, Pittsburgh as the best team defense and New England linebacker Jerod Mayo as the premier IDP. Antonio Gates rounded out that group by taking top tight end honors.

The rest of the awards went this way …

Biggest Bust: Randy Moss, WR, three teams
Out of Nowhere: Peyton Hillis, RB, Cleveland
Don’t Believe the Hype: Tie — Shonn Greene, RB, N.Y. Jets and Ryan Matthews, RB, San Diego
Most Impactful Injury: Tie — Ryan Grant, RB, Green Bay and Kevin Kolb, QB, Philadelphia
Best Single Game Performance: Vick — Week 10 vs. Washington
Worst Single-Game Performance: Chris Johnson — Week 12 vs. Houston
Most Valuable Pickup: Vick
Worst Screwing: Calvin Johnson non-TD in Week 1
Biggest (touchdown) Vulture: Mike Tolbert, RB, San Diego
Handcuff of the Year: Tolbert
Sunday Morning Stress: Gates
Playoff Hero: Vick
Playoff Goat: Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota
Wait ‘Til Next Year: Mathews

The show originally aired on Jan. 11 and will re-air Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.

When Travis McCoy presented at the FSTA summer conference last June, he focused primarily on the nine states dragging their feet on allowing fantasy sports payouts. Now he’ll try to effect change on that front and look out while also looking out for fantasy’s interests on the federal level.

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association announced this week that it has hired McCoy — who runs Washington, D.C., lobbying firm McCoy Lobbying — as its chief lobbyist and political consultant.

“Despite widespread fantasy sports play throughout America, the pastime remains misunderstood, and often incorrectly categorized as gambling,” FSTA president Paul Charchian said in the media release. “McCoy Lobbying works with federal and state legislators to ensure that fantasy play remains protected and legal to as many Americans as possible. He brings great value to fantasy companies and the 27 million Americans that participate.”

McCoy, whom the FSTA hired a few months ago, will work with federal and state legislators to try to further fantasy sports interests at both levels.

“He will work alongside legislators to create laws that will foster growth in the fantasy sports industry and will pay particular attention to the gaming laws that affect fantasy businesses,” the FSTA release stated.

McCoy previously worked for Rep. John Boehner for two years when Boehner was the House minority leader and also spent two years under Sen. Fred Thompson. McCoy also worked as a deputy finance director for a senate campaign in Louisiana, the state that most visibly dealt with the issue of legalizing fantasy payouts back in the spring.

The move comes at a particularly interesting time, as senate majority leader Harry Reid is said to be pushing a bill that will alter the laws governing online poker. One would not expect the pursuit to legalize poker to affect the already-legal status of fantasy games, but it can’t hurt to have someone representing our interests on a potentially changing landscape.

FSB.com will check in with McCoy and the FSTA leadership for any further details on plans for new lobbying position.

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association has yet to announce the specific location (in Las Vegas) at which its next winter business conference will take place, but the group has released a preliminary agenda.

The event will begin on the evening of Jan. 24 (a Monday) with the customary reception and fantasy baseball draft. (As someone who sat through 2010’s 3.5-hour affair that still required an e-mail finish, I would suggest that you only sign up if you really want to compete, are trying to avoid craps tables or are taking 5-Hour Energy for a test drive.)

The first full day of the conference includes the following, as of Sunday night:

– A 9:15 panel to update the NFL’s labor situation, with FSTA president Paul Charchian moderating. This is obviously a topic of utmost importance to fantasy folks, as football sits at the center of most businesses throughout the industry.

– A 10:15 panel called “Is This Fantasy or Not?,” addressing the various different areas that have either developed under or try to position themselves under the “fantasy sports” umbrella. Scott Higgins of Dish Network will moderate.

– 11:15: The Elevator Pitch session that has become a conference staple. It gives attendees the chance to present their company’s message in front of the crowd. It’ll be sponsored by Rack Space.

– A 1:45 panel discussion with FSTA legal experts Glenn Colton and Travis McCoy (otherwise known as the only two guys in the room who are actually making use of their law degrees).

– 3:15: Dr. Kim Beason presents his latest consumer behavior research.

– 4 p.m.: A “One on One” session moderated by Charlie Wiegert. His session at the summer conference matched Wiegert up with The Sports Network CEO Mickey Charles. It seems a safe bet that the next person up will be a bit more restrained than Mr. Charles … and probably far less entertaining.

– A 4:45 panel led by FFToolbox.com’s Jeff Christiansen will look at social networking and its applications and potential benefits for fantasy companies. (No word yet on who will play Christiansen in the movie.)

– A 5:15 panel led by Jim Corelis of STATS will look the 2010 trends in fantasy football, likely presenting something similar to the summer discussion that included MyFantasyLeague.com and CBSSports.com and was led by RotoWire’s Peter Schoenke. The entry suggests, however, that the panel will also discuss what technology trends are working well with the FF crowd.

– A 5:45 panel will circle back to the opening theme of the NFL labor strife. This one, led by Charlie Wiegert, will address contingency planning for fantasy companies in the case that football season is interrupted.

– A 6:15 discussion led by World Fantasy Games CEO Jeff Thomas and Fantasy Sports Publications leader Emil Kadlec will take a look at the international side of the fantasy business.

The agenda also calls for the FSTA awards — normally handed out a few at a time throughout the conference — will be delivered during a 7 p.m. gathering. Of course, anyone who has attended a conference knows that if a ceremony at that time doesn’t include dinner, one or more attendees will likely have appendages gnawed off.

Sessions for the second day have yet to be announced, but FSB.com will pass along more conference info as it becomes available. Registration, however, is open, according to the FSTA website.