Every year, the French president officiates at a ceremony to confer the Republic's Médaille de la famille française upon those who have brought up a large number of children. The decoration has been awarded annually since 1920; it was especially feted by Marshal Pétain during the Vichy period. There are several categories of medal: bronze medals for those with four or five children, silver for six or seven children and gold for eight or more children. The ceremony brings together politicians, family associations and families from around France; it receives a good deal of media attention and is the occasion for a reiteration of the state's commitment to families. In 2009, President Sarkozy used the event ‘to reaffirm my attachment to family policy and my desire to support all families because they are the basis of our society’. He also celebrated France's high fertility rates, in particular the record number of births – the highest for thirty years. The 2008–9 bumper crop of 834,000 French babies included little Maddox and Vivienne, born in the Var in August 2008. The twin's parents were the Hollywood stars, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Despite having six children, Ms Jolie was not eligible for nomination to the silver family medal – her children do not have French nationality. However, the large family's residency in France did mean that it was entitled to substantial family benefits, an integral element of the family policies of which the president so proudly spoke.