2008 FSTA Awards Winners
2008 FSTA Industry Recognition Awards
Congratulations to the winners of the 2008 FSTA Industry Recognition Awards
The awards were announced at the 2009 FSTA Winter Conference at St. Pete Beach, FL
Live Fantasy Event or Contest: This award will recognize the company managing the most compelling on-premise, live fantasy event or contest.
FLW Fantasy Fishing: FantasyFishing.com is the site for the newest, most-rewarding game in fantasy sports – FLW Fantasy Fishing. FLW Fantasy Fishing gave away $100,000 to the top fantasy player for each of the Wal-Mart FLW tournaments in 2008. That’s seven tournaments – six regular-season events plus the year-end Forrest Wood Cup – and, thus, seven $100,000 fantasy winners. But here’s the coup de grace: In addition to those prizes, the overall cumulative points winner at the end of the season – Michael Thompson - won $1 million. FLW Fantasy Fishing truly is the most rewarding fantasy-sports game ever created. Lots of fantasy games like to claim they have the richest paybacks out there, but they don’t. In FLW Fantasy Fishing, there were more than 4,000 winners and $2.3 million in cash and prizes given away.
Specialty Products or Services: This is a company award and will recognize the member company with the best combination of service, high quality products, and innovation. The products should be designed to enhance a fantasy sport experience and may include companies supplying trophies, rings, draft boards, mock drafts, promotional items, etc.
LeagueSafe.com: Simply put, we're a fantasy commissioner's best friend. We eliminate the hassle of managing league entry fees and payouts by automating the entire process. League members pay their dues using one of our convenient and 100 percent safe and secure online payment options. League funds are held safely in an FDIC-insured account at our partner bank and distributed in accordance with league rules at season's end.
Best Online Content Service: This award will be presented to the company with the best online information service to enhance a fantasy participant’s experience. The online service should demonstrate expert fantasy knowledge and a unique and creative ability to support and engage the user.
Rotoworld/NBC Sports (All Sports): Free, comprehensive, timely, insightful player news and columns. Over 150k player blurbs written since Oct 1, 2007. Rotoworld.com’s 24/7 operations aggregates news from a variety of sources and analyzes and opines on what that news means for fantasy players.
Draft Kit: This award will recognize the company with the best and most comprehensive fantasy draft kit.
RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit: RotoWire's fantasy baseball draft kit includes over 1,500 comprehensive player profiles (including over 500 minor leaguers), projected stats for over 900 players, real-time customized projected stats based on league parameters, 24/7 updated depth charts and cheatsheets, full team previews and over 60 feature stories. We would argue RotoWire's baseball draft kit is the most extensive draft kit of any sport in fantasy sports in terms of number of players projected, number of players profiled and total quantity (as well as quality) of content.
Fantasy Draft Assistance Tool: This award will recognize the company with the best draft assistance software, designed to help consumers draft the best possible fantasy team. This can be an online tool, downloadable software, purchased software or other tool.
Mock Draft Central: Mock Draft Central (MDC) is the choice of the public and industry for mock drafts, average draft position (ADP) and player trend reports for all sports. MDC won FSTA Awards in 2007 for Draft Style Tool and Specialty Product or Service and was a finalist for Draft Assistance Tool.
Draft Style Tool: This award recognizes the company with the best and most innovative draft style league tool.
Mock Draft Central: Mock Draft Central (MDC) is the choice of the public and industry for mock drafts, average draft position (ADP) and player trend reports for all sports. MDC won FSTA Awards in 2007 for Draft Style Tool and Specialty Product or Service and was a finalist for Draft Assistance Tool.
Best Podcast: This award will recognize the website with the best combination of information and presentation using Podcasts.
FantasySportsGirl.com: It’s real simple, no other fantasy site comes close to producing and updating as many videos on fantasy news and information as www.fantasysportsgirl.com. These awards are to recognize companies that are pushing the fantasy sports industry to new limits. Well, www.fantaysportsgirl.com is the clear leader in showing the potential that video updates have for the web with multiple videos a day, team by team previews and draft reviews.
Best Blog: This award will recognize the website with the best combination of information and presentation in a Blog.
ESPN Stephania Bell's Injury Blog (FB): Stephania Bell is a physical therapist who is a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. She uses her specialized knowledge to explain the nature and significance of football injuries three times a week during the football season; post-game, mid-week and pregame. Stephania's unique knowledge base allows her to read through the disinformation provided by NFL teams and accurately predict a player's effectiveness in upcoming games or for the balance of the season. A polished (and published) author, she is able to explain complicated medical concepts in an approachable yet still comprehensive fashion. Stephania has developed a vast network of NFL beat reporters and exchanges information through this network to the reader's benefit, on both sides of the exchange.
Unique Contest: This award will recognize the company with the most unique and innovative contest. The contest should be non-traditional contests and not qualify for other designated categories. Examples include pick the winner games, survival games, pick a loser each week, simulation games, etc.
FLW Fantasy Fishing: FantasyFishing.com is the site for the newest, most-rewarding game in fantasy sports – FLW Fantasy Fishing. FLW Fantasy Fishing gave away $100,000 to the top fantasy player for each of the Wal-Mart FLW tournaments in 2008. That’s seven tournaments – six regular-season events plus the year-end Forrest Wood Cup – and, thus, seven $100,000 fantasy winners. But here’s the coup de grace: In addition to those prizes, the overall cumulative points winner at the end of the season – Michael Thompson - won $1 million. FLW Fantasy Fishing truly is the most rewarding fantasy-sports game ever created. In FLW Fantasy Fishing, there were more than 4,000 winners and $2.3 million in cash and prizes given away.
Innovation: This award will be presented to the company with the most innovative new product design or technology innovation. The category is very broad, by design, and includes any new product, contest, service, feature, content type, content delivery service, design twist, or technical innovation.
LeagueSafe.com: Simply put, we're a fantasy commissioner's best friend. We eliminate the hassle of managing league entry fees and payouts by automating the entire process. League members pay their dues using one of our convenient and 100 percent safe and secure online payment options. League funds are held safely in an FDIC-insured account at our partner bank and distributed in accordance with league rules at season's end.
Best New Web Site or Site Update: This award will be presented to companies that are new to the fantasy market since January 1, 2008 or have done a considerable upgrade to their site. The site will be judged based upon the professional quality, overall offer value presented and innovative use of technology.
FantasySportsBusiness.com: FSB.com features weekly profiles of individuals and businesses making a difference in the industry -- featuring a variety of start-ups and experienced players that make up the fantasy sports industry. It tracks the trends that are shaping our growing industry and gives a voice to the issues that matter to fantasy players and providers. FSB.com also chronicles the newest and latest in fantasy news through FSB Daily, a daily email and RSS feed that keeps the top minds in the industry informed. The overall profile of the fantasy sports player has remained fairly consistent, but the requirement for industry knowledge for companies catering to the players has increased 10-fold, and FantasySportsBusiness.com has become a very important daily stop for the serious fantasy sports professional. Beyond the entertaining profiles and quality, in-depth news, FSB.com is a burgeoning source for industry event updates, market research, industry jobs, and more.
Print or Magazine Ad: This award will recognize the most creative and effective ad of 2008. Ads for any fantasy product are eligible and will be submitted directly to the committee for review.
Best Fantasy Magazine: This award will recognize the 2008 fantasy magazine with the best combination of information, presentation, and innovation.
Athlon/Grogan’s Fantasy Football Analyst: In our 23rd year of publishing Grogan’s Fantasy Football Magazine, our goal is to provide help for drafting and managing a great fantasy football team. All Facts not Fluff has been our approach. We try to promote fantasy football at every turn. Our quality and presentation attracts some of the larger national advertisers.
Draft Style Contest: This award recognizes the company with the best draft style league contest. Consumers join these leagues and the host company acts as the “league manager or commissioner”. The tool or contest uses a static set of rules and may or may not award prizes.
CBSSports.com Free Fantasy Football: One of the most popular Fantasy Football games on the planet is 100% FREE. Free Fantasy Football delivers all the great features that you expect from CBSSports.com Fantasy Sports - live scoring and stats, cutting edge team management tools, player news and expert analysis - with absolutely no upgrade fees or hidden costs. It's a great way for fantasy players new to CBSSports.com to start to get to know the #1 product on the market for free.
Salary Cap Contest: This award recognizes the company with the best salary cap style fantasy contest. Salary Cap Style is defined as using an artificial “cap” or maximum team value to challenge consumers to select a fantasy football team without going over the maximum value. The winning contest will have creative and innovative features and design.
Head2Head Sports: Since 1994, Head2Head Sports has been providing the most exciting online and event-based fantasy sports contests in the industry.
Fantasy Commissioner Product: This award recognizes the company with the best and most innovative commissioner tool in the industry. The tool must be customizable by the league’s commissioner and have live draft capability.
MyFantasyLeague.com (FB): MyFantasyLeague.com is a feature-rich fantasy football league management system that has been serving the industry for almost 15 years.
Fantasy Football Librarian Accuracy Award: This award recognizes the most accurate pre-season fantasy football rankings. The winner was determined by independent analysis provided by Sara Holladay, the Fantasy Football Librarian.
Fantazzle Fantasy Sports Games.: Fantazzle is a fantasy sports games company that provides unique fantasy skill games and contests that you can play at any time during a sports season.