Olympus announces global image of the year award winners

Olympus unveiled the winners of their second Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award, an annual competition that recognizes the best in life science imaging. The winning images were selected from a record number of entries—nearly 700 submissions from 61 countries.

Asia-Pacific regional winner XinPei Zhang imaged scales collected from different butterfly wings. Image Credit: Olympus Life Science Solutions

Global winner

Werner Zuschratter from Germany was selected as the global winner for his eye-catching image of a whole rat embryo captured with a confocal microscope. For the grand prize, Zuschratter will receive an Olympus SZX7 stereo microscope with a DP27 digital camera.

Regional winners

Three regional prizes were awarded to XinPei Zhang (China) for Asia, Justin Zoll (USA) for the Americas and Grigorii Timin (Switzerland) for EMEA. Each regional winner will receive an Olympus CX23 upright microscope.

Honorable mentions

Honorable mentions include Jan Martinek (Czech Republic), Laurent Formery (France), Matt Inman (Australia), Sayantan Datta (India), Derek Sung (USA), YiXun Su (China), MingShu Zhang (China), Nadia Efimova (USA) and Walter Ferrari (Argentina).

The contest launched on Sept. 15, 2020 with a call for users to submit their best life science microscopy images through Jan. 31, 2021. All entries were evaluated on artistic and visual aspects, scientific impact and microscope proficiency.

From rat embryos to butterfly scales and snakeskin, the Olympus Life Science team was impressed by the diverse collection captured under the microscope this year.

Satoshi Nakamura, Vice President of Scientific Solutions Global Marketing at Olympus Corporation, expressed enthusiasm about the bold, beautiful and often breathtaking images.

Not only did we see a record number of submissions, but the quality and creativity of those images were exceptional. It’s amazing to see the unexpected art people capture with a microscope.”

Satoshi Nakamura, Vice President of Scientific Solutions Global Marketing, Olympus Corporation

About the image of the year (IOTY) award

Olympus’ 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 across the world to look at scientific images in a new way, appreciate their beauty, and share images with others.