The diamond encrusted US$20,000 Kodak Easyshare camera

Being nominated for an Academy Award is an indication of excellence at the highest level in the profession of filmmaking. Landing a nomination for one of the major awards also brings with it a bag of goodies worth hundreds of thousands of dollars including trips, stays at exclusive hotels and some exclusive jewellery, clothes, and gadgets. For example, each Best Actress nominee in the upcoming 78th Academy Awards will be treated to the “Ultimate Luxury Suite at The Four Seasons Hotel” which brings with it an array of goodies including a KODAK dual-lens EASYSHARE V570 digital camera. Normally, the V570 runs to US$400 but each of the five nominees (Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Huffman, Keira Knightley, Charlize Theron and Dame Judi Dench) will be getting a camera personalised with their initials in 75 brilliant-cut diamonds raising the cost to around US$20,000.

Kwiat Diamonds and Eastman Kodak Company have partnered to host the Ultimate Luxury Suite which will showcase an "Inspired By" installation featuring life-like sketches of the leading ladies and the perfect jewellery to accessorize their gowns on the Oscar red carpet.

The sleek, bejeweled EASYSHARE V570 digital camera is the ultimate accessory, perfect for capturing A-list close-ups and 180-degree views of the red carpet. Other standout suite gifts include a weekend spin in the new GranSport Coupe Maserati and a getaway at The Lodge at Torrey Pines courtesy of Elite Traveler magazine. For those with a passion for the Oscars, check out the bookies' odds on who'll win at the betting aggregator sites Betbrain and Oddschecker – you can see what the bookies are offering on just about every event on the planet, including the Oscars. For the record, the bookies have Reese Witherspoon at unbackable favoritism (1/10) for the Best Actress gong for her performance in "Walk the line", Philip Symour Hoffman (Capote - 1/10) in a similar position for Best Actor, Ang Lee in a similar odds-on (Brokeback Mountain - 1/10) position for Best Director and Brokeback Mountain at similar odds (a not quite as ridiculous 1/5) for best film. Now if all those favourites come home at those odds, you’d need to wonder, wouldn’t you.