Young Artist Award
33rd Young Artist Awards
The Young Artist Award statuette
Awarded for	Excellence of young performers in motion pictures, television, theatre, and music.
Presented by	Young Artist Foundation
Country	United States of America
First awarded	1979
Official website	YoungArtistAwards.org

The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth In Film Award) is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.^[1][2][3][4]

The Young Artist Foundation 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.^[1][5][6]

The 1st Youth In Film Awards ceremony was held in November 1979, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Hollywood to honor outstanding young performers of the 1978/1979 season.^[7][8] The most recent 33rd Annual Young Artist Awards ceremony, honoring young performers of the year 2011, was held at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, California on May 6, 2012.^[9]

Young Artist Foundation[link]

The Young Artist Foundation is a non-profit 501(c) organization founded in 1978 by long-standing Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes) member Maureen Dragone and dedicated to presenting scholarships to physically and/or financially challenged aspiring young artists, allowing them to pursue a career in entertainment by attending a performing arts school of their choice.^[1][3][4] The scholarship program is funded exclusively by donations, one of its most prominent contributors being the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.^[3][10]

Young Artist Awards[link]

History[link]

The Young Artist Awards (also known as the YAA) are presented annually by the Young Artist Foundation. Originally known as the Youth In Film Awards for the first twenty years,^[8][11][12] the name was officially changed to the Young Artist Awards for the 21st annual awards ceremony in March 2000.^[1][12][13] Playfully referred to as the "Kiddie Oscars", the Young Artist Awards are regarded as young Hollywood's answer to the Academy Awards, recognizing children for their work within the entertainment industry.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

First presented for the 1978-1979 entertainment season, the awards were envisioned by Maureen Dragone, as a way to honor talented young people in film, television and music who might otherwise be eclipsed by their adult co-stars.^[1][3][5] Two notable examples that year being young Ricky Schroder in The Champ and Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer, who were each nominated for Golden Globes in the same categories as their adult counterparts.^[5][14] Originally held in November or December in its early years, the awards ceremony has traditionally taken place in March or April for more than 20 years.^{[8][19][20][21]}

Statuette[link]

The original Youth In Film Award was a statuette which bore a striking resemblance to a miniature Oscar.^[14][22] A gilded figure of a man holding a laurel wreath instead of a sword and standing upon a relatively large "trophy" style base.^[22] The more recognizable incarnation is the current Young Artist Award statuette, still reminiscent of a child-size Oscar, but now displaying a star above its head and standing upon a decidedly smaller base, much less cumbersome for its young recipients.^[23][24] In addition to the Young Artist Award statuette presented to the winners, all nominees are presented with a special nomination plaque at the ceremony, commemorating their nominations in their respective categories.^[25]

Voting[link]

Candidates considered for nomination must be between the ages of 5 and 21 and are usually submitted for consideration by producers or by the young artist's agent and/or manager.^[6][19] Submissions are traditionally due by the end of January to mid-February and nominees are announced about one month later at an annual nomination ceremony and party.^[6][19] Originally conceived of as a way to acknowledge young artists under the age of 21, the focus of the awards has shifted over time to focus primarily on young artists who were under the age of 18 at the time of principal production of the project for which they are nominated.^[5][7][14]

Winners are selected by members of the Young Artist Association.^[21] Originally known as the Hollywood Women's Photo and Press Club, and later, the Youth in Film Association, the general membership was originally composed of 88 journalists and photographers, who were active in various branches of the arts.^[7][8][26] Today, the Young Artist Association has a voting board of over 125 members composed of journalists, agents, and former child performers.^[14] Winners are selected by secret ballot of all associated with the Young Artist Association as well as former nominees.^[21]

Categories[link]

The various Young Artist Awards categories have evolved extensively since the first awards were presented. Originally beginning with only 11 competitive categories in 1979, the first categories included "Best Juvenile Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture", "Best Juvenile Actor and Actress in a TV Series or Special", "Best Juvenile Actor and Actress in a Daytime TV Series", and "Best Male and Female Juvenile Recording Artist", as well as competitive categories honoring studios and networks for "family friendly" films and television programming.^[5]

Over time, the competitive categories have been expanded to include "Best Young Actor and Actress in an International Feature Film", "Best Young Actor and Actress in a Short Film", "Best Young Supporting Actor and Actress in Film", "Best Young Ensemble Cast", "Best Young Recurring Actor and Actress in a TV Series", and "Best Young Guest-starring Actor and Actress in a TV Series", with many of the categories being split to acknowledge young artists age 10 and under in their own separate categories.^[27] In addition to its well known film and television awards, the association has also recognized the achievements of youth in other fields of the performing arts over the years, including theater, dance, commercials, journalism, radio and stand-up comedy.^[11][28][29]

Special Awards[link]

While many of the acting categories have been expanded over time, some early competitive categories such as "Best Juvenile Recording Artist", "Best Family Motion Picture" and "Best Family TV Series" have been phased out over the years, with accolades for those achievements now being bestowed in the form of special "Honorary" awards.^[27]

The foundation's most notable annual Honorary awards include the "Jackie Coogan Award", often presented to film studios, producers or directors for their "Outstanding Contribution To Youth Through Entertainment", and the "Former Child Star Award", presented as the foundation's "Lifetime Achievement Award" honoring former child stars for their achievements.^[30][31]

Ceremony[link]

The ceremony is held annually in Hollywood and has traditionally been considered one of the more formal children's awards ceremonies, with honorees and their chaperones "dressing-up" for the occasion, and arriving in limousines.^{[14][15][32][33]} All press is invited to attend the pre-show red carpet arrivals as young celebrity attendees make their entrances and sign autographs, and each year's presenters are often selected from the previous year's young winners or from that year's list of nominees.^{[14][15][18][25]} After the ceremony is the annual banquet dinner and then dancing with live musical entertainment often provided by talented young musical artists of the day.^{[14][15][16][24]}

The first Youth In Film Awards were presented in November 1979 at a banquet ceremony held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Hollywood, California.^[7][8] Subsequent venues over the years have included the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove, the Globe Theater, the Beverly Garland Hotel, and the Sportsmen's Lodge.^[27][21][34]

See also[link]

• Academy Juvenile Award
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
• Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Young Artist Awards photographs at LIFE.com

Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins (NFL), the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), and the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to The Beaches area of Toronto in 1921, where he attended Malvern Collegiate Institute.^[1]

At age 14, Cooke got a job selling encyclopedias door to door. At the end of his first day, he took home over $20 to his mother, and is reported as later saying "I think that was the proudest moment of my life." He later became a runner on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange. He was selling soap in Northern Ontario for Colgate-Palmolive in 1936 when he met Roy Thomson, who hired Cooke to run radio station CJCS in Stratford, Ontario. The two became partners in 1941, buying radio stations and newspapers in Ontario and Quebec.

With the financial backing of J. P. Bickell, Cooke purchased CKCL in 1945, changing the call letters to CKEY. He also continued to work with Thomson, and the two acquired the Canadian edition of Liberty magazine in 1948, naming it New Liberty. The following year, Thomson sold his half of the magazine to Cooke.

Jack Kent Cooke with a Maple Leafs baseball player.

In 1951, Cooke ventured into sports, acquiring the minor league Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club. He transformed the games from straight athletic contests into complete entertainment packages, with a long list of special promotions and celebrity appearances. With his focus on entertainment, Cooke was compared to St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck. Five months after becoming owner, Cooke presented a 48-page booklet to all the teams in the league, outlining his promotional strategies. He was named minor league executive of the year by The Sporting News in 1952.^[2] That same year, Cooke purchased Consolidated Press, publisher of Saturday Night magazine. He made an unsuccessful bid for The Globe and Mail newspaper in 1955.

While owning the Maple Leafs baseball team, Cooke set his sights on bringing Major League Baseball to Toronto. He tried to purchase the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, and Detroit Tigers when they came up for sale, and in 1959 he became one of the founding team owners in the Continental League, a proposed third major league for professional baseball. The league disbanded a year later without ever staging a game. Cooke still hoped to get an American League expansion team in Toronto, but the city's lack of a major league venue became an impasse. Cooke would sell the Maple Leafs in 1964 and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.

In 1960, Cooke lost a bid to obtain a license for the first privately-owned TV station in Toronto. There had been nine bids in a highly competitive process, and the license was awarded to a consortium of Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting and the Telegram Corporation, which launched CFTO-TV.

Move to the United States[link]

Within weeks of being turned down for the Toronto TV license, Cooke applied for U.S. citizenship. With the support of Francis E. Walter, Cooke quickly became a citizen when both houses of Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a waiver of the usual five-year waiting period. He sold CKEY at the end of 1960 and Consolidated Press in 1961.

At the time, Canada and the U.S. both had laws prohibiting foreign control of radio and TV stations. Cooke had entered the U.S. broadcasting industry in August 1959 by acquiring Pasadena, California radio station KRLA 1110 through his brother, Donald Cooke, a U.S. citizen.

Cooke formed American Cablevision in the 1960s and acquired several cable television companies. He acquired majority ownership of TelePrompTer cable TV and sold it in the late 1970s for $646 million.^[3] In 1980, he bought the Chrysler Building in New York City, one of the world's most renowned skyscrapers. In 1985, Cooke bought the Los Angeles Daily News for $176 million.^[4] A year later, he acquired another cable TV company.^[5]

Sports ownership[link]

Cooke was recognized for having a keen eye for spotting leadership and the ability to teach, hiring Joe Gibbs and Sparky Anderson to their first head coach and managerial positions. Both men would go on to become Hall of Famers, each winning three championships in their respective sports.

Washington Redskins[link]

In 1961, Jack Kent Cooke purchased a 25 percent interest in the Washington Redskins after team owner and founder George Preston Marshall became incapacitated by a stroke, becoming majority owner in 1974 and sole owner in 1985.

While he was owner of the Redskins, Cooke's team won three Super Bowls under head coach Joe Gibbs in 1982, 1987, and 1991, the franchise's first championships since the 1940s.

In 1997, Cooke completed a stadium deal in Landover, Maryland, for a new home for his team. Initially, the community was called Raljon—a name devised by Cooke by combining the names of his sons Ralph and John. Shortly afterwards, he died of cardiac arrest. The stadium was posthumously named Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, which was changed to FedEx Field in 1999.

In his will, Cooke left the team and stadium to his foundation with instructions to sell it. Cooke's son, John Kent Cooke, tried to put in a competitive bid to keep the team in the family, but it instead went to local businessman Daniel Snyder and his associates for a record-setting $800 million.

Los Angeles Lakers[link]

In September 1965, Cooke purchased the Los Angeles Lakers for $5 million from Bob Short. Under Cooke's ownership the Lakers moved from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena to The Forum and changed their colors from Royal and Light Blue to the current Purple (which he referred to as "Forum Blue") and Gold.

The Lakers during Cooke's ownership reached 7 NBA Finals and won the 1972 NBA Finals.

Los Angeles Kings[link]

As a Canadian, Cooke particularly enjoyed ice hockey, and he was determined to bring the National Hockey League (NHL) to Los Angeles. In 1966, the NHL announced it intended to sell six new franchises, and Cooke prepared a bid. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which operated the Sports Arena, supported a competing bid headed by Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves, and advised Cooke that if he won the franchise he would not be allowed to use that facility. In response, Cooke threatened to build a new arena in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. Nearly thirty years later Cooke told the Los Angeles Times sportswriter Steve Springer that he recalled "one official representing the commission laughing at him" (Springer's words) when Cooke warned he would build in Inglewood. Cooke won the franchise, and paid $2 million for the new Los Angeles NHL club, which he called the "Kings." Springer: "Cooke went to Inglewood and built the Forum. Good-bye, Lakers. Good-bye, Kings."^[6] The Kings played their first game on October 14, 1967—at the Long Beach Arena, while construction was being completed at Cooke's new arena.

Cooke claimed The Forum would be "the most beautiful arena in the world." It opened December 30, 1967, to rave reviews. Cooke was soon calling it "The Fabulous Forum." The Kings struggled both on the ice and at the gate, however. Cooke had been told that there were more than three hundred thousand former Canadians living within a three-hour drive of Los Angeles, and remarked, "Now I know why they left Canada: They hate hockey!" Cooke sold the Forum, Kings and Lakers in 1979 to Dr. Jerry Buss.

Los Angeles Wolves[link]

In 1967, Cooke was a founder of the United Soccer Association and owned the Los Angeles Wolves team. In 1971, he was financial backer of the first Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier boxing match, held at Madison Square Garden and won by Frazier.

Elmendorf Farm[link]

A lover of horses and a fan of Thoroughbred horse racing, Cooke owned Kent Farms, a 640-acre (2.6 km²) estate in Middleburg, Virginia, not far from Washington, D.C. In December 1984 he purchased the historic Elmendorf Farm in Lexington, Kentucky from the estate of Maxwell Gluck. He bred and raced a number of successful horses, notably Flying Continental whose wins included the 1990 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Personal life[link]

Cooke's marital history became progressively more colorful as he got older. He was married five times; however, two of the five marriages were to the same woman: Marlene Ramallo Chalmers. He was married to Chalmers at the time of his death.

Cooke's first marriage, his longest, lasted 45 years. He and Barbara Jean Carnegie married in 1934, and were divorced in 1979. In the divorce action, Carnegie was awarded what was then the largest divorce settlement in history — $42 million. The presiding judge during the bench trial was Joseph Wapner, who later became famous as the judge on television's The People's Court. Cooke and Carnegie had two sons: John Kent Cooke and Ralph Kent Cooke.

Cooke's second marriage, to Jeanne Maxwell, lasted only 10 months.

Cooke's third marriage, to Suzanne Elizabeth Martin, was even shorter: 73 days. During that brief marriage Martin, age 31, gave birth to a baby girl who the couple named Jacqueline Kent Cooke, friend of Douglas L Hirsch. At the time of Jacqueline's birth, Cooke, her father (age 74), was 43 years older than Martin, her mother (age 31). Martin in the divorce action sought $15 million from Cooke.^[7]

Following Cooke's death, it was revealed that his final wife, Marlene Ramallo Chalmers—a former drug runner from Bolivia who was 40 years his junior—had been cut out of his will.^[8] Cooke and Chalmers had married in 1990, divorced in 1993 (after she made headlines in May 1992 by accidentally shooting herself in the finger and in September 1993 by driving drunk in Georgetown with a man pounding on the hood of her Jaguar convertible), and remarried in 1995. Chalmers filed suit against Cooke's estate and reportedly received $20 million in a settlement reached about a year after Cooke's death.

The bulk of Cooke's $825 million estate went into establishing the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to help selected students of modest means attend college. The stated mission of the foundation is to "help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education."

Cooke's will, which revealed his multiple changes of heart regarding his wives and children, received considerable public attention at the time of his death.^[9]

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation[link]

Launched in 2000, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has been providing scholarships for many young high school, undergraduate, and graduate scholars studying worldwide. Each year the program helps approximately 650 students achieve their dreams via financial aid.^[10]

References[link]

Other sources[link]

• Jack Kent Cooke: A Career Biography, by Adrian Kinnane, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, 2004

External links[link]

• The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
• Heritage Footprint Minute about Jack Kent Cooke

Darren Ng 黄立人
150px
Position	Combo guard
Nickname	The Doctor
Height	189 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Team	Adelaide 36ers
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1983-12-18) 18 December 1983 (age 28) Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Junior Association	Woodville Warriors
Debut	2003
Previous Clubs	Adelaide 36ers (2003-2005, 2006-2007, 2009-present) Singapore Slingers (2008-2009)
Career Highlights	South Australian State of Origin Team (2009)

Darren Ng (Chinese: 黄立人; pinyin: Huáng Lìrén) (born 18 December 1983 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a Chinese-Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Adelaide 36ers in the Australasian National Basketball League. Ng, a 6'2" (189 cm) combo guard is known as one of the better 3 point shooters in the NBL. He is also a practicing physician being a resident doctor at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH).

Early Life[link]

Darren Ng is the oldest child of a practicing Adelaide GP. Both of his younger brothers have also finished medical school making a total of four fully qualified doctors in the Ng family.^[1] Born and bred in Adelaide, Darren went to St Peter's College and it was in Year 10 that he decided to pursue a career in medicine. However, he would end up juggling his studies with his career in basketball as he was signed by NBL team the Adelaide 36ers as a development player in 2002.

Career[link]

In 2001, Darren Ng played at the national under 18 tournament where he was ranked fourth overall in scoring at 21 points per game.

Darren Ng started his NBL career with the 36ers in 2003 and played with them through to the end of the 2006–07 NBL season, although he did sit out the entire 2005-06 NBL season to pursue his medical studies. On 27 March 2008 he signed with the Singapore Slingers for the rest of 2007–08 NBL season and averaged a career high 13.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. The Slingers folded before the start of the 2008-09 season, leaving him without a team although he later played for the Slingers in their International Challenge Series.

While pursuing his medical studies, Ng played for Sturt and Woodville in the ABA and won the Woollacott Medal award as the leading player in the 2006 ABA Central Conference.

On 18 June 2009, it was announced that Darren Ng would make his return to the 36ers. The 2009-10 NBL season saw Ng average 8.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. His 2010-11 season was cut short when he rolled his ankle in a clash with Kirk Penney of the New Zealand Breakers on 8 January. X-rays cleared Ng of any broken bones but further MRI scans revealed significant ligament damage which has put him on the sidelines for an expected 8–12 weeks.^[2]

Ng made his comeback at the start of the 2011-12 season and while seeing limited time on the court has played all 14 of the 36ers games for the season as of 2 January 2012 and is averaging 6 points, 1.6 assists and 0.8 rebounds in 13.9 minutes of game time.^[3] He hit a season high 20 points on 8/13 shooting including 4/8 from outside the Three-point line in a losing effort against the Gold Coast Blaze on 26 November as Adelaide went down 82-95 at the Adelaide Arena.^[4]

In a poll of NBL players (taken before the start of the 2011-12 season) Darren Ng was rated the best shooter in the league with 21% of players polled voting for the Doctor ahead of import guards Andrew Warren (Cairns Taipans - 16%) and Kevin Lisch (Perth Wildcats - 14%).^[5]

Medical Career[link]

Darren Ng attended the University of Adelaide's Medical school while also pursuing his career as a professional basketball player. After graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Ng has been working as a resident doctor at the Royal Adelaide Hospital's Emergency department. Ironically during the 2011-12 pre-season Ng had to be admitted to the hospital with Pneumonia after games with Sturt and training with the 36ers left him feeling flat.^[6]

References[link]

Resources[link]

• Adelaide 36ers player profile

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