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Charles E Lyman, Philip Oshel, A Decade of BioScapes Competitions, Microscopy Today, Volume 22, Issue 4, 1 July 2014, Pages 12–17, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1551929514000777
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Introduction
The Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition completed its tenth year in 2013. This important contest honors images of life science subjects acquired through light microscopes. Each year a distinguished panel of impartial judges selects winning entries on the basis of the science they depict, their beauty, and the technical merit they embody. The competition is open to users of any brand of microscope and camera. Winning images and movies often represent recent advances in neuroscience, cell biology, botany, zoology, and other biological disciplines. These images exhibit excellence in particular microscopy techniques, exceptional views of familiar objects, or cutting-edge examinations of the internal structure of organisms. Thus, the 10 prize-winning images and 60-odd honorable mentions represent examples of the best in bio-imaging each year.
The organization and implementation of the BioScapes competition are formidable undertakings. Typically each competition involves about 2,000 entries from more than 70 countries. Just to receive and handle this many entries in various image formats, shapes, and digital sizes is an enormous task. Each image or movie clip must be prepared in a standard manner for impartial judging. Information about both the identity of the photographers and the equipment used to capture images is withheld from the judges to make the judging as fair as possible. Once the winners are selected and announced, they are presented in the “Gallery” pages of the BioScapes website (www.OlympusBioScapes.com) in a beautiful, functional layout. The logistical details of the competition, the judging, and the website are handled expertly by Michael Davidson and his team at Florida State University.
