Woman Poker Player Magazine announced the winners of their first-ever Maven Awards on Monday, designed to celebrate the advancement of women in poker. The Maven Awards honor women in poker as well as the entities in the poker world that recognize, contribute to, and encourage women to participate in the poker world.

Nearly 12,000 votes were counted in 13 different categories, and amongst the big winners was Vanessa Rousso, who won the Poker Player of the Year award. Rousso told Woman Poker Player Magazine, “I am honored to have been selected for this award by my female poker playing peers! Supporting the growth of women in the game is something very close to my heart, and to be able to help by showing women what is possible with hard work and dedication is awesome!”

Here is a look at all 13 winners in the inaugural Maven Awards:

Best Role Model for Women

* Jennifer Harman

Inspirational Award

* Linda Johnson

Most Female-Friendly Online Poker Site

* PokerStars

Most Female-Friendly Poker Room

* The Venetian Las Vegas

Best Overall Tournament Series

* World Series of Poker

Best Ladies Poker Tournament

* WSOP Ladies Event

Most Appealing Marketing Campaign Aimed at Women

* Big Slick Poker Boot Camp

Favorite Blogger or Poker Writer

* Katie Dozier

Humanitarian Award

* Liz Lieu

Most Notable Performance

* Annette Obrestad

Top Media Personality

* Kara Scott

Up and Coming Player

* Vanessa Selbst

Player of the Year

* Vanessa Rousso

The nomination process for next year’s Maven Awards has already begun: You can make your selections at the following link, http://www.mavenawards.com/

Tags: Big Slick Poker, Dozier, Honor Women, Humanitarian Award, Inspirational Award, Jennifer Harman, Linda Johnson, Liz Lieu, Marketing Campaign, Media Personality, Online Poker, Poker Player Magazine, Poker Room, poker tournament, Poker World, Role Model, Vanessa Rousso, Vanessa Selbst, Venetian Las Vegas, World Series of Poker

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 at 10:27 am and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.