The 4th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, announced on 3 January 1939, honored the best filmmaking of 1938.^[1]

• The Citadel
• Runner-up – The Lady Vanishes

• Alfred Hitchcock – The Lady Vanishes
• Runner-up – Garson Kanin - A Man to Remember

• James Cagney – Angels with Dirty Faces
• Runner-up – Spencer Tracy - Boys Town

• Margaret Sullavan – Three Comrades
• Runner-up – Wendy Hiller – Pygmalion

• Grand Illusion
• Runner-up – Professor Mamlock

• Walt Disney – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

• 1938 Awards