Janusz Kaminski earned top honors at this year's Plus Camerimage, The International Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Lodz, Poland. Kaminski was presented the Golden Frog by Don Henderson of Kodak in recognition of his cinematography on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the true story of a man who writes a book after a stroke leaves him almost completely incapacitated.

The jury stated that that film "advanced the art of cinematography, and took us on a journey we were totally unprepared for... bold, audacious and visually challenging, this film allowed us to see an extraordinary part of human nature in a fresh and profound way. ...The camera gave us the feeling of being trapped, and yet it also gave us a feeling of exhilaration and hope."

Kaminski was unable to attend but accepted via phone, thanking his French crew, the international jury, and author Jean-Dominique Bauby, the man who wrote the book in spite of being imprisoned in an unresponsive body.

The Silver Frog went to Bruno Delbonnel, AFC for his work on Across the Universe, while the Bronze Frog was presented to Ed Lachman, ASC for I'm Not There.

The awards ceremony was the culmination of a week of screenings, seminars and other events that made up the 15th annual festival. More than 2,000 attendees from around the globe were gathered, with cinematographers and their work in the spotlight.

Camerimage Lifetime Achievement honoree Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC was feted throughout the week. He held court on a nearby soundstage for a rapt audience of more than 300. In response to questions about maintaining control of images through digital post-production, Goldblatt said, "It's true that these tools mean that your images can be quickly and easily changed. The question of how we'll control our work is a real and important one. A festival of cinematography is the appropriate place for us to talk about how we can help each other."

Camerimage also recognized Roman Polanski and the filmmaking team of Michael Seresin, BSC and Alan Parker for their career achievements.

The student competition jury was headed by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC. The jury evaluated a field of 31 entries from 13 countries. The Bronze Tadpole went to Michael Sobocinski for his film Father. Sobocinski is a student at the Polish National Film School in Lodz. He was also awarded the Samuelson-Panavision award for best cinematography, an honor that comes with $25,000 in equipment rental from any Panavision facility around the world.

The Silver Tadpole went to Raphael Beinder for his film My Father Is Sleeping. Beinder is a student at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.

The Golden Tadpole was renamed in honor of the late Laszlo Kovacs, ASC in recognition of his lifelong commitment to education and generosity towards students. The Laszlo Kovacs Golden Tadpole was presented by Zsigmond and Kovacs' widow, Audrey Kovacs, to Tomasz Wozniczka of the Film and Television School at the University of Silesia for his film Beyond the Horizon.