Wii Sports got GOTY from mainstream publications like TIME and the New York Times, IIRC. I'm not sure how formal they were.

I doubt it will be FPS, sites like GameTrailers always say GOTY goes to games that do more than one thing perfectly (graphics, gameplay, innovation, story, music, etc). Oftentimes FPS show impressive graphics but little else.

 http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/

Gears of War won the last one.  What's interesting for those people that say graphics matter, the five games that were nominated were: Gears of War, Oblivion, Okami, Wii Sports, and The Legend of Zelda: Twlilight Princess.  Notice that three of those games were widely criticized for bad or last generation graphics.

Wii sports had no story, no adventure, it was just mini games why would it be awarded GOTY, GoW had a great story and great gameplay. Though the zelda game should have won it.

as of right now as far as I'm concerned the only released game that is even worth considering is Brothers in Arms ds,
though I'll say it'd be brawl.
though deep down I'm hoping it should be NiGHTS, man I want that game to be good

Time Magazine made Wii Sports its game of the year, and it won "Best Game Design" at the Developer's Conference.

In general, though, I think the point is outside of reviewer's picks. 

Actually, Gears had almost no story at all and what little it did have either had no background (Phoenix in prison) or incredibly cliche (OMG! aliens/others attack and humans are on the virge of extinction!). I'm not saying it was a bad game, far from it (my personal pick for GOTY actually), but the games story wasn't a selling point.

As for Wii sports, it was nominated because it brought about an entire new group of gamers and allowed to play as you never played before.  It definately deserved to be on that list.  Just because somethings a minigame doesn't automatically make it bad. 

I think most people are simply highlighting that Wii Sports was the most influential game produced last year, and possibly the most influential produced in the last 5. It had a strong influence in the rapid and unexpected shift of the entire industry. When a game has a profound impact on the trajectory of the entire video games market, that makes it a very big deal.