NIGHT OF STARS: Women in evening gowns....

NIGHT OF STARS: Women in evening gowns. Men in formal attire. Klieg lights scraping the sky. . . . No, it’s not a Hollywood premiere. Tonight, inside the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, Mayor Richard Riordan will present the 1995 Fernando Award for civic volunteerism.

THE FINALISTS ARE . . .: One of these people will be named: Kenneth C. Banks Jr., a North Hollywood insurance broker; Bud Brown, a retired GTE district manager; Walter W. Mosher Jr., chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.; Nancy Schmidt, manager of Sherman Oaks branch of American Pacific State Bank, and Blenda J. Wilson, president of Cal State Northridge.

HIDDEN TREASURES? What do a 1930s-era doll, Rookwood vase and landscape painting have in common? . . . They’re all past throwaways donated to the American Cancer Society’s Discovery Shop that ended up being worth $1,000 or more. On Saturday, the Northridge shop (B3) sponsors its largest collectible sale ever--the booty of a former garage sale fanatic that includes the violin and case above. Is there another small fortune buried in the donated loot?

PIRATE VIDEOS: October was a banner month for the Encino-based Motion Picture Assn. of America. In the last two weeks of last month, the MPAA helped authorities in California and New York seize 36,252 unauthorized copies of motion picture videocassettes and 721 video recorders used to produce the tapes. . . . It was called the most successful haul in the history of the MPAA’s anti-piracy activities.

MIGHTY SMALL: Bigger isn’t always better. It turns out that the football squads from Sylmar and Newbury Park high schools have fewer players than any others in The Times’ Valley Edition Top 10 poll. Each team has a mere 35 players; some others have nearly 70. Yet each is undefeated while many of the much-larger teams are struggling (C10).