Now that we’re a few days removed from the announcement of the FSTA award finalists for 2008, it’s worth pointing out that FantasySportsBusiness.com made the list of finalists for Best New Web Site or Site Update.

The category recognizes sites that launched since January 1, 2008, or those that “have done a considerable upgrade.” After launching in late July, FSB.com obviously qualifies as new. We’ll be competing with seven other sites, which you’ll find listed below.

Voting is open through Jan. 5

Best New Web Site or Site Update

• FantasySportsBusiness.com
• AOL Sports Fanhouse
• CBSSports.com College Fantasy Football
• FantasySportsGirl.com
• LeagueSafe.com
• OneSeason.com
• RotoExperts
• Sports Data Hub

Washington cornerback Fred Smoot beat Chris Cooley to win the fantasy league Cooley put together for his teammates.

In true Smoot fashion, the corner thanked both himself and “Fred Smoot” for the title while hoisting the trophy donated to the league by Fantasy Trophies.

Anyone who has come up one game short in a fantasy league can sympathize with Cooley’s feelings in the video that accompanies the blog post on his website …

Fantasy Football Champ from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

Howard Kamen of USA Today, Justin Butler of OnBoard Stats and Jim Piatt of Fanatic Fantasy Football each beat 11 competitors to win fantasy football leagues put on by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

The leagues were drafted on the final day of the FSTA’s summer business conference back in July in Chicago, and the winners will receive rings from Jostens.

Kamen snuck into the playoffs with an 8-6 record, tying for the lead in his division with a team from LeagueSafe.com and making it in thanks to the total-points tiebreaker. His team benefited from a strong group of receivers, and Kamen got big production from Marques Colston, Antonio Bryant and Brandon Marshall in the finals. He topped Fanball’s Charlie Wiegert — who led the league in points for the season — 154-108 in the championship round.

Butler was outscored by three other teams in League 2 but carried the best record into the post-season. He enjoyed Drew Brees’ record-approaching passing season as well as the late-year surge by DeAngelo Williams and late-year return by Steven Jackson. Butler knocked off Tim Williams of Accuscore 144-116 on the strength of Brees’ good day at Detroit and DeAngelo Williams’ four touchdowns against the Giants.

Piatt managed only the second-most points in his four-team division in the third league but made the playoffs with a record two games better than that of any other team. He tied ESPN’s Nate Ravitz at 114 in the finals but prevailed thanks to his bench tallying more points. Piatt was another Brees owner and also bought into Pierre Thomas, with rookie Matt Forte rounding out his leaders.

All leagues were hosted by Fanball and ended with Week 16 of the NFL schedule.

CBS Sports edged ESPN for most nominations when the Fantasy Sports Trade Association announced the finalists for its annual industry awards on Saturday.

With 16 categories to be awarded, CBS carried 11 nominations. Among them is another appearance as a finalist in the best commissioner product category, which CBS has won every time it has been awarded.

ESPN came in just one behind CBS by garnering 10 nominations, including two for its new Streak for the Cash game. Also included in the ESPN portfolio is the Best Podcast category, where its Fantasy Focus baseball and football entries make up a third of the six-member field.

Fanball (seven), Rotowire (five) and LeagueSafe (four) were the only other entrants to garner more than three finalist nominations. The first two companies there should be quite familiar to folks around the fantasy sports industry, whereas LeagueSafe is in its first year of operation. The company collects and holds league fees for fantasy owners and is the brainchild of fantasy veteran (and FSTA board member) Paul Charchian.

The FSTA has been giving out awards since 2000 but switched to an annual schedule for the past two years. Members can download the voting form here and must submit to Justin Cleveland ([email protected]) by Jan. 5.

Check back with FSB.com to see all the finalists.