Chris Johnson did the same thing to the FSWA fantasy player of the year competition that he did to defenses through much of the year: He ran away.

The Tennessee running back, who came up just 99 yards shy of the single-season record for rushing yards, garnered 85 percent of the first-place votes from Fantasy Sports Writers Association members. In his wake, Aaron Rodgers took second place, with Ray Rice, Drew Brees and Maurice Jones-Drew following. (The FSWA designated the five finalists on the awards ballot.)

Johnson was the second straight running back to take the award, following DeAngelo Williams in the 2008 season. Tom Brady triumphed the year before that.

The vote was much closer for top rookie, leaning in favor of Percy Harvin. Minnesota’s first-round receiver edged Denver’s Knowshon Moreno, with Arizona’s Chris Wells, Indy’s Austin Collie and the Giants’ Hakeem Nicks following in that order.

The FSWA’s first-ever All-Fantasy team looked like this …

QB Aaron Rodgers, Packers
RB Chris Johnson, Titans
RB Adrian Peterson, Vikings
WR Andre Johnson, Texans
WR Miles Austin, Cowboys
TE Dallas Clark, Colts
K Nate Kaeding, Chargers

Clark beat out Vernon Davis as the top tight end by just a single vote. FSWA members also tapped the Jets as the top team defense of 2009 and San Francisco linebacker Patrick Willis as the No. 1 individual defensive player.

(You can find the picks and reasoning of one particularly bright FSWA voter right here.)

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When the FSWA hands out trophies next winter, there will be one more to give away.

President Mike Beacom announced Monday that the group has decided to add a category for top newcomer. Eligible candidates will have had to publish their first fantasy articles within the calendar year being considered.

This could prove a tricky category for which to set guidelines, as the blog explosion blurs the line between being published and not. Will a writer who has kept up a Wordpress blog for a few years but only just joined a fantasy-site staff be eligible, for example? Beacom said the FSWA will work out the criteria by the time nomination season rolls around.

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The FSWA also announced Monday that Robert Burghardt of TG Fantasy Baseball has agreed to step down from the association’s board of directors to become the chair of the hall of fame committee.

The group is compiling a list of candidates for its inaugural induction class and plans to have honorees selected by early summer.

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How do you know when it was the right choice to dump a couple of awards? Perhaps when no one seems to notice they’re gone.

Before this year, the FSWA had split out its annual article awards in baseball and football to categories for “major media” and everyone else. This time around, though, everyone got tossed back in together. That’s as it should be, especially as it gets a bit tougher to tell who really qualifies as “major,” particularly within the fantasy industry.

The idea of a Fantasy Sports Writers Association hall of fame has been tossed around for a while. It predated current FSWA president Mike Beacom’s tenure, but the process had trouble getting ironed out.

Beacom says that the ironing is finally done, however, aided by a board meeting at the recent Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference in Las Vegas.

“We’re finally at a point where we’re there,” Beacom told FSB.com on Monday. “The great thing about it is that everyone is genuinely excited.”

He said there’s never been a lack of support for the idea but that details such as how to select the class, what criteria to judge on and how to make sure the honor is properly recognized drew the process out a bit.

The group is now moving into the final stages of naming a 2010 induction class, however, and part of the discussion and planning to this point has been making sure that there are no interruptions to the process once it gets rolling.

“This is something we’re committed to every year. We want to build a history,” Beacom said. “This is something we’re going to make a big deal out of. We want the individual that gets inducted to feel as special as we consider it.”

So, what will the process look like?

For starters, the hall is being put in place to honor fantasy industry veterans who have made a significant and lasting contribution on the editorial side. The focus will often be on prominent writing accomplishments, but the FSWA will also seek to honor those who helped create opportunity for writers in various ways. The “veteran” portion is important, too, as eligibility can only be triggered once someone has 10 full years of service in the industry.

A volunteer committee of FSWA members is charged with putting together a full list of candidates for the year. Beacom says the current process has already gathered about 50 names and is expected to ultimately generate about 60.

After working with Beacom and its own committee chair (who has yet to be named, though several candidates are being considered), the hall of fame committee will whittle the list down to 15 finalists. From there, each committee member will vote for however many candidates he or she thinks should get enshrined.

Beacom said that the FSWA is still working out just how many votes each member will have to cast in that vote and what percentage of votes will be needed for enshrinement.

Beacom said he anticipates each year’s class containing from four to seven enshrinees, though he concedes that this first class — in particular — could easily boast more. He also said that the FSWA will strive for a fair process.

“Integrity is No. 1,” Beacom said. “We don’t want to have a buddy system.”

The association is continuing to look at a review process to ensure, for example, that deserving names don’t get repeatedly ignored. It will also decide at some point how to incorporate hall members into the selection process.

The most significant detail yet to be determined is just how and where any ceremony might take place.

“We would love to have a venue that would allow us to present to our inductees,” Beacom said. “If that becomes available, we think that would be a fantastic opportunity. If not, we’re still going to find a way to make it special.”

Voting on the inaugural class is expected to finalize by June or early July. Any questions about eligibility or suggestions on nominations can be directed to Beacom.

The hall committee is made up of FSWA members with fewer than 10 years of service in the industry (who, thus, aren’t yet eligible for the hall). The committee chair can have 10 years in but is still ineligible.

The sixth year of the FSWA awards again drew a record number of submissions.

Fantasy Sports Writers Association president Mike Beacom said that the group’s board of directors had nearly 1,000 articles to pore over in recent weeks to pare down to the list of finalists announced today that were passed along to the two independent judges.

We’ll get into some of the specific points about this year’s group of contenders, but for now, here’s the full list of finalists. Winners will be announced at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference Jan. 26-27 in Las Vegas.

Best Fantasy Football Publication
Fantasy Football Index
Pro Football Weekly/Yahoo!
RotoWire

Best Online Football Article
Dalton Del Don, RotoWire
Jeff Stotts, RotoWire
Derek VanRiper, RotoWire

Best Football Print Article
Michael Blunda, Pro Football Weekly
Ted Carlson, Fanball
Ben Ice, Fantasy Football Pro Forecast

Best Football Series
Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN
Adam Levitan, RotoWorld
Jeff Stotts, RotoWire

Football Writer of the Year
Ryan Bonini, KFFL
Brad Evans, Yahoo!
Derek VanRiper, RotoWire

Best Fantasy Baseball Publication
Fanball
Fantasy Baseball Index
RotoWire

Best Online Baseball Article
John Rakowski, Sports Grumblings
David Regan, RotoWire
Scott White, CBS Sports

Best Baseball Print Article
James Benard, RotoWire
Will Carroll, RotoWire
Brent Hershey, USA Today Sports Weekly

Best Baseball Series
Jason Grey, ESPN
David Regan, RotoWire
Mark Strausberg, RotoExperts

Baseball Writer of the Year
David Regan, RotoWire
Derek VanRiper, RotoWire
Scott White, CBS Sports

Basketball Writer of the Year
Cory Elfrink, Fanball
Tom Lorenzo, RotoExperts
Andre Snellings, RotoWire

College Sports Writer of the Year
John Baker, RapidDraft
Brad Evans, Yahoo!
Michael Hurcomb, CBS Sports

Golf Writer of the Year
Rob Bolton, RotoWorld
John McNamara, RotoWire
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo!

Hockey Writer of the Year
Sean Allen, ESPN
Rocky Bonanno, NHL.com
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo!

Racing Writer of the Year
Scott Engel, RotoExperts
Brian Polking, Fanball
Mark Taylor, RotoWire

Best Humor Article
Ladd Biro, Sporting News
Paul Bourdett, RotoExperts
Mike Gilbert, RotoExperts

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association has expanded on last year’s fantasy MVP award (which went to DeAngelo Williams).

This time around, the FSWA also wants its members to pick a rookie of the year and an “All-Fantasy” team. Below is a look at the ballot that has been passed out to FSWA members. (Writers who would like to join the FSWA can find the application form here.)

MVP
QB Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
RB Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans
RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars
RB Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens
QB Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Rookie of the Year:
WR Austin Collie, Indianapolis Colts
WR Percy Harvin, Minnesota Vikings
RB Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos
WR Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants
RB Chris “Beanie” Wells, Arizona Cardinals

2009 All-Fantasy Team
QB:
RB:
RB:
WR:
WR:
TE:
K:
Team Defense:
Top IDP Performer:

Voters are asked to rank the players in the first two categories. The deadline for submitting ballots is Monday, Jan. 18.