Another great benefit of YoungArts for my son was that he used all of the same YA recordings for his college/conservatory pre screening submissions. And I agree that at least for classical instrumentalists, YA awards are well regarded.
One other bit of advice I would offer. If your kid has time and interest in activities completely removed from music, support them. At some point, there will be a time constraint issue which will necessitate music to be the major part of the schedule. But at least in early high school years, my son was involved in sports and had a great group of friends who did not know (or care) that he was involved in music. It was very healthy for him to have an identity outside of being that music kid.
4 Likes