The art of science: Olympus launches third global image of the year contest

Olympus’ third annual Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award is now open for entries through Jan. 31, 2022. Each year, the competition recognizes the best in life science imaging worldwide to inspire and showcase art through microscopy. Contestants may enter by uploading up to three images, with a description of the equipment used, at Olympus-LifeScience.com/IOTY. Winners will be selected by a jury and announced in April 2022.

Image Credit: Olympus Life Science Solutions

Contest details

Prizes include an Olympus SZX7 stereo microscope with a DP28 digital camera for the global winner and an Olympus CX23 upright microscope for the regional winners in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The international jury includes experts from both science and the arts, including Wendy Salmon, director of the Hooker Imaging Core Facility at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine; 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; Siân Culley, postdoctoral research associate at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at UCL; Stefan Terjung, operational manager of the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility at EMBL Heidelberg; Wen-Biao Gan, director of the Institute of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory; and Anne Beghin, research assistant professor at MechanoBiology Institute, National University of Singapore.

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

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

More information about the Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award, including jury members’ biographies, last year’s winning images and the full terms and conditions, can be found at Olympus-LifeScience.com/IOTY.

Video Credit: Olympus Life Science Solutions