Introducing The Hobby Awards

This morning Mantel, with support from our friends at Yahoo Sports, announced the formation of The Hobby Awards, and I thought it would be helpful to answer two questions I know people will ask… Why, and Why Mantel?

Like many of you reading this, collecting has been an important part of my life since I was a kid. I grew up with two brothers in a sports-obsessed household, and whenever we had a few extra bucks from doing chores, we’d head down the street to a pharmacy-like shop that also sold candy, soda and some cards and pool our money to maximize the haul. 

I’m reminded of the Andy Bernard quote, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them”, though my version might be “I wish there was a way to know you were in the junk wax era before spending all your cash on Upper Deck Behind the Glass.” (A PSA 8 MJ trades for less than $100 today Buy on eBay). 

We all have our collecting origin stories, and hopefully we all still feel at least a shred of that childhood joy when participating in this hobby. 

I know, I know…collecting is a BIG business. There’s money at stake. Collectors are at the mercy of corporate decisions, market dynamics, IP deals and manufacturing inconsistencies. Plenty of people try to take advantage of other collectors to make a quick buck. 

It’s not all perfect. 

But it’s still net-positive to our lives, right? The anticipation before ripping a pack, or excitement at a great pull or dollar-box find or big trade is still there, right?... Right? 

Look- this hobby could stand to do a bit more celebrating, don’t you think? More focusing on the things we love about collecting, the people who make The Hobby more fun, the innovation and cool releases and HOLY S*** moments we all have following our passions. 

That’s what Mantel is all about (...from day one we billed our community and app as a celebration of the objects people are most passionate about and the relationships we build through our hobbies), and that’s why we wanted to launch an awards program to highlight the best of our hobby each year. 

And we wanted to include this great community every step of the way. 

The categories are still being cemented, and this first year is going to be VERY sports cards and memorabilia focused, but we’ll give out awards for things like: 

• Best Auction House

• Best Hobby Shop

• Best Marketplace

• Best Collectible Show

• Digital Product of the Year

• Best Custom Art Card Artist

• Best Breaking Platform

• Best Live Stream Sellers

• Creator/Influencer of the Year

• Collectibles Exec of the Year

• Grading Company of the Year

• Innovation of the Year

• Best Sports Card Product

• Best Sold Memorabilia Item

• Best Non-Sports Card Product

• Best Media Platform (site, newsletter, podcast)

The community will be able to vote on all of the categories, with the collector-vote making up 70% of the weighted vote total. The remaining 30% will come from votes from our judging panel, and I’m so excited by the crew that agreed to participate, including: 

Alexis Ohanian (founder, 776; co-founder, Reddit), Brent Montgomery (CEO, Wheelhouse; executive producer, King of Collectibles), Ryan Spoon (president, Yahoo Media Group), Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO/chairman, VaynerX; creator, VeeFriends), Josh Luber (founder, ghostwrite), Darren Rovell (founder, cllct), Scott “DJ Skee” Keeney (founder, TheRealest), Geoff Wilson (founder, Sports Card Investor, CardsHQ), Michael Osacky (expert sports memorabilia appraiser), Morgan Jon Fox (award-winning director, The Hobby), Alex Giaimo (sports and collectibles host), Annemarie Farrell (journalist and @Women.on.Topps), Frank Hrelja (creator and co-founder, Trove), Mat Sposta (co-founder, Chck.AI and Trove), investor, creator and collector Buster Scher, Suzy Lulgjuraj (journalist and marketer), Jay Moslehi (founder, MojoSports LLC), and Sarina Morales (senior media director, WeTheHobby). 

The website is live, and we’ll be sharing updates about final categories, nominations and the start of voting there, as well as on the Mantel app and on Yahoo Sports. We are ironing out plenty of details, but it was important for us to tell the community about The Hobby Awards before so many of us hit The National this week in Rosemont, so we could talk openly about our plans, solicit feedback, and rally support for the program. 

If you see me walking the halls at The National, say hi and let me know what you think. And if you aren’t going to be there, drop us a line over on Mantel or leave a comment here. We want the whole community to feel part of The Hobby Awards from Day 1.