The Young Artist Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award is an honorary

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

bestowed by the Young Artist Association to recognize former

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

s and/or child singers for lifetime achievement within the

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

industries. In recent years, the award has also been known as the Mickey Rooney Award, in honor of former child star

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

, however, the spirit of the award has remained essentially the same since its inception.

History

First presented in 1979, the "Former Child Star Award" was one of the Young Artist Association's original "Special Awards". Throughout the past 34 years, the association has conferred its special "Lifetime Achievement Award" upon 29 former

s and child singers for their work within the entertainment industry. Recipients of the honor receive the traditional Young Artist Award statuette; a gilded figure of a man displaying a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

above its head, reminiscent of a miniature child-sized

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

. The first recipient was

Jane Withers Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and children's radio show host. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for ...

, who was honored at the 1st Youth in Film Awards ceremony for her work as a child actress on radio and in feature films during the 1930s. The 2013 recipient is

Melissa Joan Hart Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress, producer, and director. She had starring roles as the title characters in the sitcoms ''Clarissa Explains It All'' (1991–1994), ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' (1996–2003), and ''M ...

, who will be honored at the

34th Young Artist Awards The 34th Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers between the ages of 5 to 21 in the fields of film, television and theatre for the 2012 calendar year. The 34th annual ceremon ...

ceremony for her roles as Clarissa Darling on the 1990s Nickelodeon sitcom ''

Clarissa Explains It All ''Clarissa Explains It All'' is an American teen sitcom created by Mitchell Kriegman for Nickelodeon. In the series, Clarissa Darling ( Melissa Joan Hart), is a teenager who addresses the audience directly to explain the things that are happenin ...

'' and as

Sabrina Spellman Sabrina Victoria Spellman is the eponymous character of the Archie Comics series ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch.'' Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and she first appeared in ''Archie's Mad House'' #22 in October 19 ...

on the ABC sitcom ''

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

''. After former child star

received the accolade at the 12th Youth in Film Awards ceremony, the award has also been known as the "Mickey Rooney Award" in his honor.

Honorees

As one of the Young Artist Association's "Honorary" awards, the traditional age restrictions used for the association's "competitive" categories do not apply. Candidates eligible for nomination in one of the Young Artist Award's competitive categories must be between the ages of 5 and 21, and winners are selected by secret ballot of the 125 members of the Young Artist Association as well as former Youth in Film Award/Young Artist Award winners. As the title of the award implies, a "former" child star can be presumed to be over the age of 21, however, all honorees are recognized specifically for their achievements within the entertainment industry as juveniles.

References

External links

*
Young Artist Awards
photographs at LIFE.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Young Artist Award, Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award Young Artist Awards Lifetime achievement awards Awards established in 1979 1979 establishments in the United States

History

Honorees

See also

References

External links