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

– The FSWA is looking for a new secretary, a job whose title might belie its impact. Bob Harris of FootballDiehards.com stepped down from his job as treasurer, which led Perry Missner to slide over from secretary and open up a slot that president Mike Beacom expects to play an integral role to the FSWA’s future. The volunteer should expect as much as 10 hours of work a week, though a range of 3-5 should be more typical. “Yes, it’s a tall order,” Beacom said, “but we feel like we’re looking for a special individual: someone determined to become a leader in our industry. And it’s important that we find someone with the same passion we have for advancing the careers of young fantasy writers.” Details can be found in the posting on our Jobs page.

– Hoops outlet Dime magazine explores the world of “digital basketball,” including Big Lead Sports’ investment in a couple of content sites two years ago. A couple of key questions, though, are what kind of room there is for growth in the fantasy basketball space and at what rate we should expect it.

– Check this out: Apparently the Martin Library in York, Pa., has been hosting season-preview fantasy baseball sessions for the past 20 years. This year’s edition will feature USA Today Sports Weekly editor Paul White and Baseball HQ founder Ron Shandler.

– Canadian Joe LaCova is hoping the horse that he once bought with fantasy football winnings can take home a prestigious harness-racing prize.

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

Now that I’m finally able to see through the tears that coincidentally arrived after someone else beat me out for fantasy football writer of the year, it’s time to pass along the full list of winners.

We’ll have more about the Fantasy Sports Writers Association awards — including historical data — over the next few days, but here are the folks who grabbed trophies Tuesday night in Las Vegas (in bold):

FOOTBALL WRITER of the YEAR
Ladd Biro, The Sporting News
Dave Richard, CBS Sports
Matt Schauf, RapidDraft.com

BEST FOOTBALL SERIES
Ryan Bonini, KFFL
Michael Fabiano, NFL.com
Mike Gilbert, RotoExperts

BEST WEB FOOTBALL ARTICLE
Andy Behrens, Yahoo! Sports
Christopher Harris, ESPN
Tim McCullough, RotoExperts

BEST PRINT FOOTBALL ARTICLE
Andy Behrens, Yahoo! Sports
Cory Bonini, KFFL
Matt Waldman, Football Guys

BEST FOOTBALL MAGAZINE
Football CheatSheets
Football Diehards
Sports Illustrated

BASEBALL WRITER of the YEAR
Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN
David Regan, RotoWire
Derek VanRiper, RotoWire

BEST BASEBALL SERIES
Matt Lutovsky, The Sporting News
David Regan, RotoWire
Chris Ryan, RotoExperts

BEST WEB BASEBALL ARTICLE
Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN
David Regan, RotoWire
Derek VanRiper, RotoWire

BEST PRINT BASEBALL ARTICLE
Brent Hershey, Baseball HQ
Chris Liss, RotoWire
Jeff Stotts, RotoWire

BEST BASEBALL MAGAZINE
RotoWire
Sporting News
Yahoo! Sports

BASKETBALL WRITER of the YEAR
Carson Cistulli, RotoWire
Shannon McKeown, RotoWire
Brian McKitish, ESPN

HOCKEY WRITER of the YEAR
Evan Berofsky, RotoWire
Jan Levine, RotoWire
Janet Eagleson, RotoWire

RACING WRITER of the YEAR
Adam Ansell, RotoExperts
C.J. Radune, RotoWire
Mark Taylor, RotoWire

COLLEGE SPORTS WRITER of the YEAR
Brad Evans, Yahoo! Sports
Chris Morgan, RotoWire
Jesse Siegel, RotoWire

GOLF WRITER of the YEAR
John McNamara, RotoWorld
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo! Sports
Greg Vara, RotoWire

NEWCOMER of the YEAR
Jake Ciely, RotoExperts
Mario Puig, RotoWire
Lane Rizzardini, Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

BEST HUMOR ARTICLE
Andy Behrens, Yahoo! Sports
John Paulsen, Bulls-Eye
Chris Ryan, RotoExperts

For the most part, I try to keep my personal takes out of the way of news around here. The general goal for FSB.com is to put news and info from the fantasy sports industry out there rather than to analyze each bit and/or give personal recommendations.

That said, I like what Fantasy Sports Writers Association Mike Beacom had to say in his most recent monthly news letter to members:

This past year was one of the FSWA’s most productive to date - the Hall of Fame got off the ground, our members participated in the first annual baseball awards, and we introduced a new self-nominate system for our annual writing awards. But now we’ve entered a new year, and with it come a few new priorities for this organization.

1. Develop our social networking tools — In 2011, the FSWA will use Facebook and LinkedIn to distribute news/features and promote our functions. By year’s end we expect to have a much more active community.

2. Create dynamic member pages — We’re in the process of designing a new profile page for members which will allow them the opportunity to put their work in front of prospective fantasy employers.

3. Provide more opportunities for young writers to grow — One thing members will notice beginning this spring is more content on our website. These stories will be geared toward helping young writers build better fantasy stories. Also, we have plans to offer monthly mentoring opportunities where experienced fantasy writers will offer new members feedback. We’re currently seeking fantasy veterans to volunteer for months beginning in March.

I’ve always been a fan of what the FSWA stands for. I found it first as an aspiring fantasy writer looking for a gig beyond the local newspaper in Neverheardofit, N.Y., and the site’s former message board helped to hook me up with my first fantasy employer. (Full disclosure: It happened to be Beacom.)

The FSWA is an organization composed of volunteers donating time to support quality fantasy content and try to connect people throughout an industry that is still new enough to largely revolve around personal connections.

That said, the FSWA has often lacked a consistent presence. It’s an organization a writer might join and then not think about much until award time or the day his Industry Insiders league drafts. That’s not meant to knock the FSWA leadership, which comprises entrepreneurs, people who have day jobs outside of fantasy and those who already spend all their actual work time focusing on this stuff. Time can be difficult to make, and even when you succeed, donating it for free work isn’t too attractive.

Beacom and the other FSWA leaders would do quite a service, though, by affording their members more opportunities to connect with others and showcase their material and skills, and less experienced writers would be wise to seize opportunities for tips and critiques of their work. I certainly plan to offer my help for goal No. 3.

Here’s hoping the FSWA reaches its 2011 goals with as much ease and as little extra work as possible for all involved.

FSWA members narrowly handed fantasy MVP honors this week to Houston running back Arian Foster, with Tampa fourth-round pick Mike Williams more comfortably winning the top rookie award.

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association called on its membership to name the best of fantasy football season once again, and the voting led with Foster and Michael Vick duking it out for top honors among the 2010 FSWA Football Awards.

“I just want to say thanks to the five-person committee for putting together the ballot,” said president Mike Beacom, referring to the group comprising NFL.com’s Michael Fabiano (chair), ESPN.com’s Tristan Cockcroft, RotoExperts.com’s Scott Engel, SportsGrumblings.com’s John Georgopoulos and DraftSharks.com’s Lenny Pappano. “Thanks also to our members for taking the time to vote.”

A record number of ballots came in — 30 percent more than last year — giving Foster just 1.6 percent more points than the Eagles quarterback, with Tom Brady, Peyton Hillis and Calvin Johnson finishing in that order among the five nominees.

In the rookie vote, Williams grabbed 11.2 percent more points than teammate and running back LeGarrette Blount — who emerged midd-year after being signed away from the Titans. Rounding out that group, in order, were Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, Lions running back Jahvid Best and Saints running back Chris Ivory.

Whereas the Foster and Williams selections made sense, the first relative surprise came in the awards’ new category: best value pick. That vote favored Vick in a landslide.

Of course, considering Vick the top “value pick” of 2010 is no stretch after the guy went from the waiver wire in most leagues to the highest scoring average at his position. The curious part, though, is how a guy can dominate the “best value pick” vote while narrowly losing MVP. The answer could be that the category either needs to be more clearly defined or replaced.

The definitions for “best value” could be myriad. Is best value the player who was most ignored before the season but became a scoring leader? Must he have actually been drafted, since draft picks are generally inherently more valuable than waiver claims? Is the “best value” the early round pick that lived up to his billing, thus ensuring that you didn’t waste the selection?

Whatever happens, there’s certainly nothing wrong with the FSWA introducing an imperfect category so that we might ponder such questions.

Behind Vick in that category came Hillis, Foster, Broncos receiver Brandon Lloyd and Raiders running back Darren McFadden.

Finally, there was the All-Fantasy Team …

QB Michael Vick
RB1 Arian Foster
RB2 Peyton Hillis
WR1 Roddy White
WR2 Dwayne Bowe
TE Jason Witten
PK Sebastian Janikowski
Team D Pittsburgh
IDP Jerod Mayo

The FSWA will present trophies to Foster and Williams in February.

Related: My 2010 FSWA Football Awards ballot