1. Home
2. Image of the Year

Following the success of past Image of the Year Awards, Evident is continuing to search for the best light microscopy images in 2024. The fifth Global Image of the Year Scientific Light Microscopy Award recognizes the very best in scientific imaging worldwide. For the first time, the contest includes a new video category to show the art of capturing small changes in motion under the microscope. Participants can win an SZX7 microscope with a DP23 digital camera, X Line™ objectives, a CX23 microscope, or an SZ61 microscope.
Registration is now closed.

Prizes

The global prize and three regional prizes for Asia, Europe, and the Americas will be awarded to the scientific images that receive the highest scores. Additional prizes will be awarded to the global winner of a dedicated category for video and the winner of a dedicated category for materials science and engineering images.

Jurors

• Americas

• EMEA

• Asia-Pacific

Geoff Williams, Manager of the Leduc Bioimaging Facility at Brown University Geoff Williams is in his 14th year as manager of the Leduc Bioimaging Facility at Brown University. The opportunity to combine visual arts, science, technology, and mastery of a skill clicked with his discovery of microscopy (electron and light) as an undergraduate at Connecticut College. Geoff transitioned from a graduate program at Michigan State University to running the imaging facility at Central Michigan University before arriving at Brown. Over the past 20-plus years, he has been honing his craft as both an electron and light microscopist, paying more attention to the aesthetics of each image collected than is typically required of a purely scientific investigation. Geoff’s work, under the name Nanoscape, provides a tactile and striking view of samples we may or may not encounter in our day-to-day lives.

Harini Sreenivasappa, Manager of the Cell Imaging Center at Drexel University Harini Sreenivasappa is the manager of Drexel University’s light microscopy core facility, the Cell Imaging Center. She was introduced to microscopy during graduate school at Texas A&M University (TAMU), where she studied the role of microenvironment stimuli on cellular sensing and adapting as it takes place in blood vessel wall remodeling in cardiovascular disease. This led to a PhD in biomedical engineering. She has more than 10 years’ experience working with various microscopy techniques, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), spinning disk confocal, and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. With ASCB’s COMPASS Outreach grant, she created and curated a Traveling Micrographs exhibit showcasing micrographs by TAMU researchers that was free and open to the public. The goal of the series of exhibits was to share research at TAMU with the local community and stimulate interest in imaging science.

Rachid Rezgui, Research Instrumentation Scientist, Microscopy, New York University Abu Dhabi Rachid Rezgui is a microscopist and an active research scientist. Rachid studied physics at the Leibniz University of Hanover in Germany, then completed his PhD in biophysics at the Ecole Polytechnique in France studying DNA-protein interactions at the single molecule level. He joined the microscopy core facility at New York University Abu Dhabi in 2014, and has since worked with all types of microscopes, including two-photon, super-resolution, confocal, fluorescence lifetime, and widefield. He is involved in all aspects of optical imaging, such as sample preparation, training, acquisition, and post-processing, as well as core facility management.

Nicolas Schilling, Microscopy Application Specialist, Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis, University of Zurich Nicolas Schilling is a microscopy application specialist at the University of Zurich's light and electron microscopy core facility. His journey in optical imaging started during his biomedicine graduate studies at the University of Zurich. After earning his master's degree, he engaged in the university's technology platform program, where he worked on a novel sample preparation method that integrates high-pressure freezing cryofixation with super-resolution light microscopy, enhancing structural preservation. In 2019, he joined the university's microscopy core facility team and has since worked with all types of microscopes, including super-resolution, confocal, widefield, and electron microscopes. His responsibilities are diverse, covering sample preparation, training researchers, data acquisition, and post-processing.

Songhai Shi, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University Dr. Songhai Shi is a renowned professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He has long been dedicated to studying the development, formation, and functioning mechanisms of the brain using methods such as neurobiology, genetics, cell, and developmental biology.

Dr. Wen-Tai Chiu, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University Dr. Wen-Tai Chiu specializes in optogenetics, calcium signaling, live-cell molecular imaging, and cancer research. He actively serves as a professor at his alma mater, the National Cheng Kung University. His recent projects include investigating the regulation of calcium ions (Ca2+) on focal adhesion dynamics, carcinogenesis, and chemoresistance, as well as exploring advanced bioimaging. His lab has also combined engineering technology to construct an optogenetic platform, which can accurately create different Ca2+ oscillations in time and space scales different from traditional chemical stimulation. As director of the Bioimaging Core Facility at National Cheng Kung University, which is affiliated with the National Core Facility for Biopharmaceuticals of the National Science and Technology Council, Dr. Chiu advocates for the collaborative use of high-end microscopic instruments by internal and external academic and industrial units. He believes that the researchers can learn from each other and practice the ideals of collaboration through the shared platform.

Past Winners

Download Wallpapers

Download the Image of the Year Award 2022 wallpaper package now for free and beautify your screen.

Download the wallpaper package for desktop (ZIP, 136.2 MB)

Download the wallpaper package for mobile (ZIP, 131.4 MB)

Virtual Background Download a background you can use during virtual meetings. Download the backgrounds (JPG, 1.62 MB)

Competition Rules*

You can upload your microscope images and videos between February 15, 2024, at 12 p.m. EST and May 31, 2024, at 12 p.m. EST. The winners will be notified in fall 2024.

Anyone over the age of 18 can participate. Evident employees, their families, the judges, their families, and individuals engaged in the manufacturing or sales of microscopes are excluded from participation.

For the still image competition, you can upload up to three images. All images must be JPEG or TIFF and have a maximum file size of 10 MB. For the video image competition, you can upload a video file. The video file must be in an MPEG, MP4, or AVI format and have a maximum file size of 1 GB.

Images and videos do not need to be taken with an Olympus-branded microscope. No purchase necessary to enter or win.

Images and videos must be taken by the entrant using a light microscope. Images taken with an electron or any other microscope(s) that do not capture imagery using optical light technology are not eligible.

Macro photography and videography are not eligible.

After participating in the competition, your image or video might also be depicted in Evident campaigns worldwide and you grant us the corresponding rights of use. You will be credited as the content creator, so please be aware that you must be the originator of the uploaded images or videos and that the images or videos must be free from any third-party rights. Please find the full details in the terms and conditions.

Our jury will judge the submitted images on artistic and visual aspects, scientific impact, and microscope proficiency.

Terms & Conditions**

Global Imaging Competition Terms and Conditions (PDF, 91 KB)

Americas Imaging Competition Terms and Conditions (PDF, 91 KB)

Japan Imaging Competition Terms and Conditions (PDF, 91 KB)