The 30th Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television and theater for the 2008 season, and took place on March 29, 2009, at Universal Studios' Globe Theatre in Universal City, California. Special guest performers for the ceremony that year included Russian musical artists, "Street Magic" and Las Vegas father and son acrobat team, "The Kalinins". Established in 1978 by long-standing Hollywood Foreign Press Association member Maureen Dragone, the Young Artist Association was the first organization to establish an awards ceremony specifically set to recognize and award the contributions of performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television, theater and music.

Categories

★ Bold indicates the winner in each category.

Best Performance in a Feature Film

Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor

★ Nate Hartley - Drillbit Taylor - Paramount Pictures

Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress

★ Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees - Fox Searchlight

Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor

★ Brandon Soo Hoo - Tropic Thunder - DreamWorks SKG

Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress

★ Christian Serratos - Twilight - Summit Entertainment

Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast

★ Kit Kittredge: An American Girl - New Line Cinema

Best Performance in an International Feature Film

Best Performance in an International Feature Film - Leading Young Performers

★ Brandon Walters (Australia) - Australia - 20th Century Fox

Best Performance in a Short Film

Best Performance in a Short Film - Young Actor

★ Cainan Wiebe - A Pickle

Best Performance in a Short Film - Young Actress

★ Laytrel McMullen - Pudge

Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special

Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young Actor

★ Alex Black - Generation Gap - RHI Entertainment

Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young Actress

★ Selena Gomez - Another Cinderella Story - Warner Brothers

Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Supporting Young Actor

★ Joseph Castanon - Comanche Moon - CBS

Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Supporting Young Actress

★ Cassidi Hoag - The Two Mr. Kissels - Lifetime Television

Best Performance in a TV Series

Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor

★ Graham Patrick Martin - The Bill Engvall Show - TBS

Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actress

★ Miranda Cosgrove - iCarly - Nickelodeon

Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Supporting Young Actor

★ Larramie "Doc" Shaw - Tyler Perry's House of Payne - TNT

Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Supporting Young Actress

★ Bella Thorne - My Own Worst Enemy - NBC

Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actor

★ (tie) Carlos Knight - ER - NBC ★ (tie) Joey Luthman - Private Practice - ABC

Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress

★ Nicole Leduc - Supernatural - Warner Brothers

Best Performance in a TV Series - Recurring Young Actor

★ Mick Hazen - As the World Turns - CBS

Best Performance in a TV Series - Recurring Young Actress

★ Erin Sanders - The Young and the Restless - CBS

Outstanding Young Ensemble in a TV Series

★ The Bill Engvall Show - TBS

Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role

Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor

★ David Gore - Fly Me to the Moon - Summit Entertainment

Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actress

★ Emily Hirst - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (English version) - Bandai Entertainment

Best Performance in a DVD Film

Best Performance in a DVD Film

★ Billy Unger - Cop Dog - Marvista Entertainment

Best Performance in Live Theater

Best Performance in Live Theater / Host

★ Shemar Charles - Pop It! - Hop To It Productions

Special awards

Outstanding Live Family Act

★ "The Kalinins" – Misha and Ivan Kalinin (Father and Son) – Acrobats

Outstanding International Feature Film Ensemble

★ Slumdog Millionaire (India)

Outstanding Broadway Musical Ensemble

★ Billy Elliot the Musical

Jackie Coogan Award

Contribution to Youth

★ Kenny Ortega, Producer / Director / Choreographer – High School Musical

Michael Landon Award

Contribution to Youth

★ Gary Sinise, Actor / Humanitarian – Co-founder: Operation Iraqi Children

Social Relations of Knowledge Institute Award

★ Brink - The Science Channel

Outstanding Contribution to Family Entertainment

★ Bolt ★ Captain Abu Raed ★ The Lucky Ones ★ Mamma Mia! ★ WALL-E