The next great Global Pizza Challenge is underway with the invitation to would-be pizza champions to create their masterpiece recipes and send in their entries.

The Global Pizza Challenge – run in 16 countries around the world – is designed to promote a passion for pizza making with pizazz and to introduce a whole new spectrum of innovative pizzas to the pizza-loving world.

The South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge starts now with a call for entries in four categories – chicken or meat; seafood; vegetarian; speciality or dessert. First prize for the overall pizza champion in this competition is R15 000.

Pizza makers in stand-alone pizzerias, restaurants, hotels, or fast food outlets and franchises are invited to join the challenge and create a delicious pizza recipe with a difference - the recipe that will captivate the panel of internationally-recognised chefs who will judge the recipes on their originality, balance, creativity, and most importantly, on their ‘excitement factor’. About 30 finalists will be selected and invited to recreate their recipes at the Global Pizza Challenge event, to be held in a nail-biting cook off at Hostex in Johannesburg in March 2015. This year pizza lovers are also invited to join in on the action by encouraging their local pizzeria to enter the Global Pizza Challenge, if their nominated pizzeria wins the challenge they will win a year’s supply of pizza.

The 2014 winner of the Global Pizza Challenge in South Africa was Montague resident, Colin du Plessis, whose intriguing winning pizza was a roasted butternut, beetroot and garlic pizza sprinkled with sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds and topped with rocket, avocado and smoked buffalo mozzarella, drizzled with red grape balsamic reduction.

Pizza making is a “distinguished, passionate and noble livelihood” says the Global Pizza Challenge South Africa website, and entering the competition will “help advance pizza's quality, diversity and popularity, globally.”

For more information and for entry forms, visit www.globalpizzachallenge.com or the Global Pizza Challenge Facebook page. Also follow us on Twitter @GPCSouthAfrica #BestPizzaSA.