Bristol Rotary Club Great Pizza Challenge Is A Great Success

Nine local pizza shops took part in the Bristol Rotary Club Great Pizza Challenge, a new event that raised $2,000 for a college scholarship for a Bristol Interact student.

Held Sunday afternoon at the Giamatti Little League Center on Mix Street in Bristol, the fundraiser included sampling a wide variety of pizza and plenty of wonderful raffle prizes.

About 400 people attended. There were two dozen Bristol Rotarians there helping, and about 15 members of the Bristol Central High School Interact Club.

The club is deeply grateful to the Giamatti Center for the use of its beautiful facility, to the Interact club for all its hard work, to the pizzerias who signed on to something new and gave time and talent to a community event and to the many donors that made the raffle such fun.

Pizzerias signed on to donate 10 pies each to the contest but many of them brought in many more as the huge crowd devoured the delicious fare. Some shops reported serving 30 to 50 pies.

People attending paid $5 per person or $10 per family to sample the pizza and the club sold drinks separately. Many of those attending voted for their favorites in an array of categories: Best Sauce, Best Crust, Best Meat Pizza, Best Cheese Pizza, Best Pepperoni, Best Veggie, Best Specialty, Best Gluten Free, Best Gluten Free Crust, Best Gluten Free Sauce, The Rotarian and the President's Prize. Winners will receive custom made certificates for display and enough bragging rights to last a year.

A complete list of winners in all categories follows. Many more photos can be seen on the Bristol Rotary Club Facebook page. Please visit it and "like" the page so you'll find out what our dynamic and growing club is doing.

Best Sauce:

First Place – Chunky Tomato

Finalists – Hometown Pizza and People’s Choice

Best Cheese:

First Place – Chunky Tomato

Finalists – Hometown Pizza and People’s Choice

Best Meat Pizza:

First Place – Hometown Pizza

Finalists – L.J.’s Pizza and People’s Choice

Best Crust:

First Place – Chunky Tomato

Finalists – San Gennaro and Hometown Pizza

Best Pepperoni:

First Place – Hometown Pizza

Finalists – Corner Pizza and People’s Choice

Best Veggie:

First Place – Hometown Pizza

Finalists – Corner Pizza, San Gennaro and the Oasis

Best Specialty Pizza:

First Place – L.J.’s Pizza

Finalists – Hometown Pizza, Corner Pizza and People’s Choice

Best Gluten Free Pizza:

First Place – People’s Choice

Finalist – Hometown Pizza

Best Gluten Free Crust:

Luiza’s Diner

Best Gluten Free Sauce:

Chunky Tomato

The Rotarian goes to San Gennaro

President’s Prize goes to the Oasis