The Young Artist 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 artists who may be physically disabled or financially unstable.

The 1st Youth in Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers in the fields of film, television and music for the 1978–1979 season, and took place in October 1979 at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, California.