Just like last year, RotoWire took six of the trophies given out by the FSWA on the first day of the FSTA’s winter conference.

As RotoWire president Peter Schoenke walked up to accept the awards for his company and staffers, emcee Matthew Berry met him with comments such as “I wouldn’t go too far” and “you might want to just start walking up now, Peter.”

That second one came as the nominees for Best Online Football Article were displayed: a category composed solely of RotoWire submissions.

Derek VanRiper’s victory over two colleagues in that category marked the second straight year that RotoWire has taken that award. Chris Liss’ entry took the online article prize in 2009.

RotoWire also repeated as top baseball magazine, claiming that trophy for the third year in a row. The company also saw Mark Taylor repeat as the top racing writer but saw the top writer honors in golf, baseball and college sports go to other sites (after claiming those three in 2009.

Other victories came for best basketball writer (Andre Snellings, another previous champion, though not in 2009), best baseball Web article and best baseball series (both David Regan).

Here’s the full list of finalists (with winners in bold) for those six categories …

Best Online Football Article
Dalton Del Don, RotoWire
Jeff Stotts, RotoWire
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 Series
Jason Grey, ESPN
David Regan, RotoWire
Mark Strausberg, RotoExperts

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

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

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

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association has awarded a top racing writer for the past three years. Each time that honoree has been Christopher Harris, a jack of many fantasy trades for ESPN.

This yearh, however, will not present Harris with his fourth trophy, as he did not make the list of finalists released late Sunday night by the FSWA.

Instead, a first-time winner will come from the group that includes Natalie Anthony of Football Diehards, Scott Engel of RotoExperts and Mark Taylor of RotoWire.

The FSWA will give out its awards on the first day of the FSTA winter conference next Tuesday.