To begin with held in 1975, the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition has gotten to be maybe the most eminent gathering in the world for pictures taken through the light magnifying instrument.
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In 2025, the competition welcomed still‑images (Photomicrography) and too recognizes a sister category, Little World in Movement (videos/time‑lapse through a magnifying lens).
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Entries this year highlight more than fair “pretty pictures”: they bring together creativity, specialized dominance, and logical narrating. The judging criteria include:
Creativity & originality
Informational content
Technical capability (magnifying instrument method, lighting, stacking, etc)
Artistic/visual affect
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The 2025 competition moreover marks a point of reference of sorts: celebrating over five decades of this imagery-based science‑art hybrid.
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The 2025 Champs: Top 3 & Highlights
To begin with Place
Winner: Zhang You (Kunming, Yunnan, China)
Image: A modest rural bug — the rice weevil (*Sitophilus oryzae) — roosted on a single grain of rice, wings completely expanded.
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Technique & Story:
Zhang utilized a medium‑format camera combined with a 5× magnifying lens objective.
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He captured over 100 pictures and focus‑stacked them, cleaning, lighting and post‑processing the example over two weeks.
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The weevil example was a blessed find—“naturally protected on a windowsill” with wings as of now spread, which is amazingly uncommon for such minor creepy crawlies.
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Zhang famous: “It pays to plunge profound into entomology: understanding insects’ behaviors and acing lighting.”
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Why momentous: It exhibits how what appears ordinary (a grain of rice + weevil) can change beneath the magnifying instrument into a emotional, flawlessly composed picture. That mix of biological significance (the bug) with visual ponder is what the competition celebrates.
Moment Place
Winner: Dr. Jan Rosenboom (Rostock, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany)
Image: Colonies of the green green growth Volvox as round structures interior a water bead.
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Technique: Captured through reflected light through a 5× magnifying instrument objective.
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Why it stands out: These green growth colonies may be unimportant millimeters in measure, however the picture gives them brilliant scale and uncovers a tiny universe. From National Geographic: “Each green circle is itself a colony made up of as numerous as 50,000 cells.”
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Third Place
Winner: John‑Oliver Dum (Medienbunker Production, Bandore, Germany)
Image: Dust grains inserted in a plant spider’s web. Amplification: 20× objective.
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Why critical: It uncovers a common scene – dust on a web – but changes it into something exceptional. The light, composition, and setting hoist it to fine‑art microscopy.
Other Beat Champs & Chosen Highlights
Beyond the best three, the competition perceived numerous other compelling works. Here’s a inspecting of the top 20 (with area, subject, technique):
4th Place: Dr. James Hayes (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA) — heart muscle cells with chromosomes condensed after cell division (confocal, 100×)
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5th Place: Dr. Igor Siwanowicz (USA) — spores of a little tropical plant Catoptric richardia (confocal, 25×)
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6th Place: Dr. Francisco Lázaro‑Diéguez — rodent liver cells (confocal, 63×)
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7th Place: Stella Whittaker — iPSC‑derived tactile neurons named to appear tubulin & actin (confocal, fluorescence, 10×)
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8th Place: Igor Siwanowicz (once more) — mallow dust sprouting on disgrace whereas parasitized by a organism (confocal, 40×)
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9th Place: Wim van Edmond — organism Talaromyces purpureogenus known for ruddy color (picture stacking, 10×)
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10th Place: Dr. Dylan Burnette & Dr. James Hayes — heart muscle cells (iPSC‑derived) appearing condensed chromosomes in metaphase (SIM, 60×)
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In add up to, 71 pictures were perceived from thousands of entries around the world.
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Techniques & Trends
Examining the winning sections uncovers a few specialized and topical trends:
Focus stacking & image‑stacking: Especially for little subjects like creepy crawlies or dust, stacking numerous pictures permits for amplified profundity of field and razor‑sharp detail (e.g., Zhang You’s over‑100‑image stack).
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Confocal microscopy & fluorescence: Numerous champs utilized progressed microscopy strategies (e.g., confocal, fluorescence) to bring out inner structures, atomic names, and distinctive colour (e.g., Hayes, Whittaker).
Reflected light / polarized light / classic light microscopy: A few victors utilized less complex but magnificent procedures to create striking visuals (e.g., Rosenboom’s Volvox, Dum’s dust web).
Ecological & biomedical subjects: The picture subjects extended broadly — from agrarian bothers and green growth, to creepy crawly networks, to human cells. This reflects the competition’s wide scope over science and art.
Art + science narrating: Judges accentuate that it’s not sufficient to have specialized noise-free pictures — the picture ought to tell a story, start interest, uncover covered up structures, welcome ponder. As Nikon states: “What makes this year indeed more uncommon … his exceptionally to begin with time entering … highlights the soul of Nikon Little World: rousing ponder, making logical understanding open to all, and celebrating the creativity of the infinitesimal realm.”
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Why It Matters
Bringing the undetectable to light: Microscopy uncovers universes we cannot see with the exposed eye — microbiology, cellular forms, modest living beings, ultrastructure. These pictures offer assistance democratise this see, welcoming non‑scientists to wonder at nature’s complexity.
Inspiring STEM & craftsmanship hybrid: The competition sits at the crossing point of science, innovation, craftsmanship, and communication. It energizes researchers to think outwardly and photographers/microscopists to think scientifically.
Awareness of little universes that matter: Numerous subjects have real‑world importance — agrarian bothers (weevil), show living beings (Volvox), human cell conduct (heart muscle cells) — reminding us that big changes regularly begin small.
Visual communication in science: In an period where visual media rules, high‑quality symbolism helps open engagement, instruction, logical outreach. Competitions like Nikon Small World raise the bar for how logical symbolism is presented.
Celebration of strategy & make: Past the subject, these victors highlight microscopy as a create — example arrangement, lighting, imaging, post‑processing, introduction. Such make is regularly covered up behind the science but is central to the outcome.
Looking Forward
The sections for 2026 (both Photomicrography and Little World in Movement) are open. If you have get to to a magnifying instrument and a camera, this might be your year!
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For those interested: the full display of champs (top 20, honorable notices) is accessible on the Nikon Small World site. It’s a extraordinary asset for motivation and for seeing what strategies and subjects are trending.
For teachers and communicators: These pictures are great educating devices — displaying biodiversity, cell science, microscopy methods, and the esteem of interest.
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