Jan Martinek from the Czech Republic was selected as the 2021 global winner for a glowing image of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower with pollen tubes growing through the pistil. The flower tissues were chemically cleared to reveal the pollen tubes stained with aniline blue (yellow fluorescence). Martinek chose to image this flower to highlight the beauty of science in plant cell research.

Taewoong Medical Co, Ltd to be Acquired by Olympus

News & Views

Global Imaging Competition – Entries open

Oct 07 2022

Entries are now open for Evident’s fourth Global Image of the Year Scientific Light Microscopy Award, with entries accepted through to Feb. 28, 2023. Each year, the competition recognises the best in scientific imaging worldwide. For the first time, the contest welcomes materials science images in addition to life science images to show the versatility of the art of science.

The global prize and three regional prizes will be awarded to the scientific images that receive the highest scores. Prizes include an Olympus SZX7 stereo microscope with a DP23 digital camera or X Line™ objectives for the global winner and an Olympus CX23 upright microscope or SZ61 stereo microscope for the regional winners in Asia, Europe and the Americas. An additional prize of an SZ61 stereo microscope will be awarded to the winner of a new dedicated category for materials science and engineering images.

The international jury consists of experts in science and imaging, including Geoff Williams, manager of the Leduc BioImaging Facility at Brown University; Harini Sreenivasappa, microscopy facility manager of the Cell Imaging Center at Drexel University; Rachid Rezgui, research instrumentation scientist at New York University Abu Dhabi; Urs Ziegler, managing director of the Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis at the University of Zurich; Yujie Sun, tenured professor and Boya distinguished professor of Peking University; and Sarah Ellis, head of the Centre for Imaging the Tumour Environment (CITE) at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Australia.

All entries will be evaluated based on artistic and visual aspects, scientific impact and microscope proficiency.

A subsidiary of Olympus, Evident’s IOTY Award began in 2017 as the Image of the Year European Life Science Light Microscopy Award with the aim to celebrate both the artistic and scientific value of microscopy images. Today, the competition stays true to this mission by encouraging people around the world to look at scientific images in a new way, appreciate their beauty, and share images with others.

Contestants may enter by uploading up to three images, with a description of the equipment used; Winners will be selected by a jury and announced in summer 2023

More information online