RotoExperts founder Ben Ice says that the company is targeting the 2010 baseball season for the return of Fantasy Auctioneer.

“We plan on redesigning the service, making it more stable and more scalable to deliver a lot more drafts than it is currently capable of delivering,” Ice told FSB.com. His company announced the purchase of the auction-draft platform site at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference earlier this week, a deal that had been in the works since June.

Ice said the RotoExperts team will need time to develop the new service, which is why the sights are set on a year from now. He said that a mock version of the football software might be offered in 2009, but the Fantasy Auctioneer site will serve as another gateway for consumers to reach RotoExperts software and draft kits.

The move is part of a larger effort to build a strong presence on the fantasy sports technology front and follows the December acquisition of Diamond Draft fantasy baseball software. Ice said the focus on technology has been part of the plan since RotoExperts was created.

“First, we wanted to establish ourselves as a provider of high quality fantasy content, and we believe we have accomplished that goal,” he said. “We are constantly looking at different products and services to determine where they fit. Fantasy Auctioneer integrates well with our football and baseball software.”

Two brand new fantasy entities were among the four outfits to claim two Fantasy Sports Trade Association awards at this week’s winter business conference, joined by a pair of leaders in fantasy technology.

MyFantasyLeague.com pulled off a big win in the commissioner tool category, knocking off CBS for the first time in the seven-year history of the awards. The fantasy football league-hosting site added top honors in the print ad category to take home two trophies a year after getting shut out.

Mock Draft Central, on the other hand, matched its victory total of two from a year ago with a clean sweep of the draft tool categories. MDC repeated in the draft-style tool category and also won for best draft assistance tool. Those two might seem redundant, but the difference is pretty simple.

“The draft assistance tool is to help out individual players,” FSTA manager Justin Cleveland tells FSB.com. “The draft-style tool is meant for league managers to make the draft better and easier for everyone.”

The first-timers who claimed two titles were LeagueSafe.com and FLW Fantasy Fishing.

LeagueSafe.com is the brainchild of Fanball co-founder Paul Charchian and collects league fees in place of commissioners. That model won it the prizes for best innovation and specialty product/service.

The FLW game stormed onto the scene, gave away the first million-dollar fantasy prize and garnered plenty of attention in a sport that generally doesn’t. That helped win it the award for unique contest, while the ceremony at which FLW Outdoors announced its champion won best live event.

For all of the FSTA winners and finalists, click here.

Here are all of the finalists for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association’s 2008 Industry Recognition Awards. Only FSTA members are eligible to win, and the membership selects the winners (in bold below) from the final candidates.

Commissioner Product
CBSSports.com Commissioner
ESPN Fantasy League Manager
Fanball.com Football Commissioner
Fantrax
MyFantasyLeague.com (FB)
RealTime Fantasy Sports (FB)

Draft-Style Tool
CBSSports.com Live Draft Room
Mock Draft Central

Draft-Style Contest
CBSSports.com Free Fantasy Football
FanaticFantasyFootball.com LLC (FB)
Fanball Draft and Play MLB (NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR
Head2Head The Draft 2008
PASPN.Net Mock GM Offseason & Real-time Fantasy Basketball
U-Sports (College FB, BB)

Salary Cap Contest
Fanball Challenge Games
Head2Head Salary Cap Football
PASPN.Net Mock GM Offseason & Real-time Fantasy Basketball
Sports Buff Salary Cap Style Football

Live Event or Contest
AOL Sports (FB)
ESPN Fantasy Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (FB)
FLW Fantasy Fishing

Unique Contest
Alma Mater Football League
ESPN Streak for the Cash
FLW Fantasy Fishing
Head2Head Match Play Madness
PASPN.Net Mock GM Offseason & Real-time Fantasy Basketball
Pay The Fan Fantasy Sports (FB,Racing)

Innovation
CBSSports.com User Generated Player Updates
ESPN Streak for the Cash
Accuscore.com GMC Fantasy Scout
LeagueSafe.com
Rosterdilemma.com

Draft Kit
CBSSports.com Fantasy Football Downloadable Draft Kit
The Huddle Fantasy Football Draft Kit
ESPN Fantasy Football/Baseball Draft Kit
RotoExperts
RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit
KFFL.com’s Fantasy Football Draft Guide

Draft Assistance Tool
CBSSports.com Mock Drafts
Draft Dynamix Draft Analyzer
Mock Draft Central
RotoLab, DraftLab, HoopLab

Print Ad
CBSSports.com FANTASY FOOTBALL TODAY
Fantrax
Fanball - Gatefold (4 Page) Ad in Fantasy Football Index & Fanball Cheat Sheets
LeagueSafe.com
MyFantasyLeague.com
RotoWire 2008 Fantasy Football print ad
U-Sports (College FB, BB)

Magazine
Athlon/Grogan’s Fantasy Football Analyst
Baseball HQ - Baseball Forecaster
CBSSports.com FANTASY FOOTBALL TODAY
ESPN The Magazine Fantasy Football Draft Guide (FB)
Fanball Fantasy Football Draft Issue
RotoWire 2008 Fantasy Baseball Guide
Rotoworld/NBC Sports (FB, Baseball)

New Website or Site Update
AOL Sports (FB) Fanhouse
CBSSports.com College Fantasy Football
FantasySportsBusiness.com
FantasySportsGirl.com
LeagueSafe.com
One Season Fantasy sports stock market
RotoExperts
Sports Data Hub

Specialty Products or Services
BlogTalkRadio: The Fantasy Sports Channel (FB,BB,Baseball,H)
FantasyDispute.com
Fantasy Trophies LLC
LeagueSafe.com
Sports Data Hub
Titlecraft Inc.

Online Content Service
BaseballHQ.com
CBSSports.com Fantasy News Site
ESPN Insider Answer Guys
Fanball - Owner’s Edge NFL
The Huddle Fantasy Football Service
KFFL Hot off the Wire
RotoWire.com
Rotoworld/NBC Sports (All Sports)

Blog
AOL Sports (FB)
ESPN Stephania Bell’s Injury Blog (FB)
Fanball - Godfather of Fantasy Sports Blog
The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog
Fantasy Football Sherpa’s Blog
RotoWire’s blog area, also called RotoSynthesis
Sporting News Fantasy Source Blitz blog (FB)
William Del Pilar’s Locker Room Buzz

Podcast
BlogTalkRadio: The Fantasy Sports Channel (FB,BB,Baseball,H)
CBSSports.com FANTASY FOOTBALL TODAY(FB)
ESPN Fantasy Focus Baseball
ESPN Fantasy Focus Football
FantasySportsGirl.com
RotoExperts.com Start em and Sit em Sunday

Yesterday we spotlighted the companies that claimed multiple plaques at the Fantasy Sports Writers Association awards ceremony, but there were seven other honors handed out Tuesday.

Here are the victors in those remaining categories, as well as the other finalists with whom they competed:

Football Writer
Andy Behrens, Yahoo Sports
Jay Clemons, Sports Illustrated
Jeff Pasquino, Footballguys

Football Print Article
Dan Grogan, Athlon
Ginny Loveless, Football Diehards
Matt Waldman, Football Diehards

Football Print Publication
CBS Sports/Pro Football Weekly
RotoWire
Rotoworld

Baseball Print Article
Andy Behrens, Yahoo Sports
Jason Grey, ESPN
Tim Heaney, KFFL

Baseball Web Article
Jeff Erickson, RotoWire
David Gonos, Open Sports
Eno Sarris, Baseballguys

Hockey Writer
Sean Allen, ESPN
Janet Eagleson, RotoWire
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo Sports

Humor Article
Jeremy Fisher, Fantasy Football Trader
Lenny Pappano, Draft Sharks
Geoffrey Stein, Mock Draft Central