Voting is now live for The Mantel Hobby Awards, where we’re celebrating the very best in the collectibles industry from 2025.
When we announced The Mantel Hobby Awards, we heard a few questions, namely… 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.)
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 1 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.
You can head to https://thehobbyawards.onmantel.com/ right now and vote for categories like:
- Best Auction House
- Best Hobby Shop
- Best Marketplace
- Best Collectible Show
- 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
All of the nominees are listed on the site, along with background information on each, so you can brush up on who they are and what they’ve accomplished.
And to vote, you just need an email address.
The collector vote makes 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), Steve Aoki (DJ/producer; founder, Dim Mak), Josh Luber (founder, ghostwrite), Ken Goldin (CEO, Goldin), 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), Sarina Morales (senior media director, WeTheHobby) and more.
Voting will run until November 21st, 2025, with winners announced during a livestream with Yahoo Sports in December (more details coming).
Winners will receive a limited edition trophy in collaboration with ghostwrite, and we’re making two trophies available via a giveaway. To enter, vote and drop your Mantel username on the last page. That’s it.
The Mantel Hobby Awards were designed to be a celebration of the best of our industry, and a celebration of what makes collecting so fun and rewarding. We hope you’ll join us and vote.
