We describe a single-stage synthesis of fluorescent hard-sphere polymer colloids. Monodisperse sterically stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) spheres were prepared by a dispersion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid in the presence of a nonpolymerizable dye. The PMMA colloids are intensely fluorescent and when dispersed in hydrocarbons interact as classical hard spheres. At high concentrations they rapidly nucleate highly ordered three-dimensional colloidal crystals. Four different fluorophores were investigated to minimize the degree of fluorescence photobleaching at lambda = 488 nm. The dye, 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiIC(18)), was observed to photobleach at a significantly slower rate than existing materials (Bosma et al., J. Colloid Interface Sci. 245, 292 (2002); Jardine and Bartlett, Colloid Surf. A, in press). We show the usefulness of the resulting DiIC 18 particles for confocal investigations of colloidal phenomena.