The board of the Finnish Mass Spectrometry Society (FMSS) awarded Juha-Pekka Hieta’s PhD thesis entitled “Development of infrared laser ablation based ambient mass spectrometry imaging methods” with the thesis of the year scholarship in its Spring meeting. The meeting was held on 30.5.2023 at the premises of VTT (Otaniemi, Espoo), where Juha-Pekka held his award presentation. The meeting location had a special meaning for the awardee, as he graduated as a M.Sc. (Tech.) from next door.