“I’ll bet I am the only 60-yearold woman ever to have her photograph on the cover of Glamour magazine,” said Maria Shriver the other night in Carnegie Hall when the magazine did its “Women of the Year” awards.

The activist first lady of California is fudging it just a bit. She was actually only 54 on Nov. 6. Nevertheless, as the night’s final recipient of the honor, Maria was the wind-up finale person onstage at these dazzling awards. And she was of a piece with the rest of the honorees; famous for never taking “No!” for an answer when it comes to a good cause.

Over the years I’ve grown increasingly skeptical of all the self-promoting “awards” going on in the world. Most of these turn out to be long, overwrought and boring. Well, I certainly misjudged the worth of the Glamour Awards.

My pal, Vogue magazine’s Billy Norwich, and I sat in the audience expecting very little. What we received was an evening of surprises, celebrities at their peak and a surprising program that whizzed along from one thrilling experience to another. Where else, I ask you, would you see Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison and Barbara Starkey together (Mrs. John Lennon, Mrs. George Harrison and Mrs. Ringo Starr) presenting to Paul McCartney’s designer daughter, Stella McCartney. These women have known Stella since she was born!

As in many award shows, the presenters were even better known and more famous than the honorees. And the presenter who got the biggest hand of the night was Bill Clinton, who came on to honor Maya Angelou, the poet from his own inauguration.

The balconies were crammed with Girl Scouts and young girl groups who were a fabulous enthusiastic audience for the likes of jailed-in-North Korea-journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, Google visionary Marissa Mayer, the U. S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice and number one tennis star Serena Williams. Let’s not forget Amy Poehler, who killed the audience with her, “And I want to thank President Clinton and Maya Angelou for opening for me!”

The big glamour hand went to Rihanna. At her appearance, the audience freaked out and I’d say, generally, the clothes, such as the white outfit she was wound up in, elicited high interest. That part was really fun.

All the presenters were first rate —Christiane Amanpour, who offered up the revolutionary women of Iran—along with Tyra Banks, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Diane von Furstenberg, Iman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lorne Michaels and Michael Douglas.

My hands-down favorite of the night was honoree Jane Aronson, pediatrician and founder of Worldwide Orphans, which saves deserted children and promotes adoption. (She’s the one who worked with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. What a woman.) They brought onstage children who Jane has saved and she hugged and kissed every one. This was a killer moment. Really great.

So congrats to Glamour’s chief Cindi Leive and publishing director Bill Wackermann, plus their sponsor L’Oreal. They put on a hell of a show; in some ways, I thought it beat the Oscars all to pieces.