The Fernando Award is one of the top awards for civic accomplishment in the nation and the highest award for volunteerism in the greater San Fernando Valley. Over the years, community and civic organizations across the country have used the Fernando Award as a model to establish similar recognition programs hoping to regenerate a felling of community, an atmosphere of friendliness, and a system of support for the needy. The Fernando Award has been called the Academy Award for Volunteerism. The mission of the Fernando Award is to promote and recognize lifetime volunteerism in the San Fernando Valley. The idea for the awardoriginated in 1958 by a group of San Fernando Valley business and community leaders interested in encouraging community involvement. Since then, over 600 people have been honored for their commitment to volunteerism in the San Fernando Valley. Although numerous individual are nominated each year, only one is selected to receive the coveted Fernando Award. The award that is handed out is in the form of a miniature replica of the actual Fernando monument located in the Van Nuys Civic Center. Name of each of the award recipients are etched in the base of the monument and on a marble obelisk in Warner Center Park.