This year's winning images in Nikon's Small World photomicrography contest are arguably the best in the competition's 36 years. They cover everything from bug eyes and spider fur to starfish embryos and mouse neurons. I had the honor of being one of the judges for this year's competition. We spent an entire day in May poring over 2,200 images (a record for Nikon) to find the best, which were posted on the Nikon Small World website today. The winning order won't be revealed until Oct. 13, but in the meantime, you can choose your favorite and help determine the winner of the public vote. Though the judges were blown away by a few of the more exotic photo subjects, some of the most interesting images were microscopic views of ordinary stuff like soy sauce and soap bubbles. I've gathered some of the best of these in this gallery. Above: Crystallized Soy Sauce Yanping Wang, Beijing Planetarium

Spiral Vessels From Banana Plant Stem Stephen Lowry, University of Ulster

Soap Film Gerd Guenther, Düsseldorf, Germany

Vascular Trace Development in a Corn Leaf Devin O’Connor, University of California, Berkeley

Sodium Saccharin Crystals Darryl Hover, Salem, Oregon

Snowflake Pekka Honkakoski, Iisalmi, Finland