First Prize in the 41st Annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition was awarded to Australian Ralph Claus Grimm for capturing an amazing close-up of the eye of a honey bee covered in dandelion pollen.

Grimm, a high school teacher from Queensland, self-taught microscopist and former bee keeper, was recognized along with more than 80 other international winners. He hopes his image can serve as a voice for this endangered insect that plays such a critical function in pollinating the world's crops.

Read on to see more winning images from the competition.

An image of the colon of a mouse that was born germ-free, or completely sterile of microbes. The mouse was colonized with a human microbiota.

Photographed by Kristen Earle, Gabriel Billings, KC Huang & Justin Sonnenburg, Stanford, California

This image shows an entrance to the trap (or bladder) of a Humped Bladderwort (Urticulatia gibba), a carnivorous freshwater plant.

Photographed by Dr. Igor Siwanowicz, Ashburn, Virginia

A photo of a mini-organ, known as an organoid, grown from human mammary gland tissue in a lab.

Photographed by Daniel H. Miller & Ethan S. Sokol, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Live imaging of perfused vasculature in a mouse brain with glioblastoma.

Photographed by Dr. Giorgio Seano & Dr. Rakesh K. Jain, Harvard Medical School, Boston

Spore capsule of a moss (Bryum sp.)

Photographed by Henri Koskinen, Helsinki, Finland

A starfish photographed using confocal microscopy.

Photographed by Evan Darling, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York

An image of nerves and blood vessels in a mouse ear skin.

Photographed by Dr. Tomoko, Yamazaki National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland

Young buds of Arabidopsis (a flowering plant).

Dr. Nathanael Prunet, Pasadena, California

A live clam shrimp (Cyzicus mexicanus).

Photographed by Ian Gardiner, Calgary, Canada

Fern sorus at varying levels of maturity.

Photographed by Rogelio Moreno Gill, Panama

This image shows tentacles of a carnivorous plant (Drosera sp.).

Photographed by Jose R Almodovar, University of Puerto Rico

An Australian grass (Austrostipa nodosa) seed.

Photographed by Viktor Sykora, Prague, Czech Republic

The anthers of a flowering plant (Arabidopsis thaliana).

Photographed by Dr. Heiti Paves, Tallinn, Estonia

An image of feeding rotifers (Floscularia ringens).

Photographed by Charles B. Krebs, Issaquah, Washington

A black witch-hazel (Trichodactylus crinitus) leaf producing crystals to defend against herbivores.

Photographed by Dr. David Maitland, Feltwell, UK

Planktonic larva of a horseshoe worm (phoronid).

Photographed by Dr. Richard R. Kirby, UK

A hairyback worm (Chaetonotus sp.) and algae (Micrasterias sp.).

Photographed by Roland Gross, Gruenen, Switzerland

The suction cups on a diving beetle (Dytiscus sp.) foreleg.

Photographed by Frank Reiser, Garden City, New York

A liverwort (Lepidolaena taylorii) plant with modified leaves (water sacs), which are often home to aquatic microorganisms such as rotifers.

Photographed by Susan Tremblay, Berkeley, California

A detail of a jewel beetle (Coleoptera Buprestidae).

Photographed by Dr. Luca Toledano, Verona, Italy

A three-day old Peanut worm (Sipuncula), serotonin in the nervous system.

Photographed by Dr. Michael J. Boyle, Fort Pierce, Florida

A red fossil coral slab.

Photographed by Norm Baker, Baltimore, Maryland

An adult marine worm (Autolytus).

Photographed by Mike Crutchley, Wales, UK