The Executive Board of the European Microscopy Society (EMS) presents an annual EMS “Outstanding Paper Award” (OPA). The prize is awarded to papers containing original work in the field of microscopy and judged on scientific merit, technical and general quality, expected impact, originality and relevance to microscopy. Each year one paper is selected in each of the categories (i) Instrumentation and Technique Development, (ii) Materials Sciences and (iii) Life Sciences. The prize consists of 1000 (one thousand) euros plus a plaque for the first author (per winning paper) in each category and printed certificates for all authors.

A total of 16 papers were nominated for 2025. One nominated paper had to be withdrawn from the selection process as it was nominated by one of the authors, which is against the OPA rules. One paper was nominated in two categories by independent nominators.