There are endless restaurants in the area that claim to have the best pizza, and which restaurant actually holds this title is the question the District 99 Education Foundation hoped to find out with their third annual Pizza Wars held on Jan. 14 at DGS.

Around 400 community members came out earlier this month to taste local pizza and socialize all while supporting a cause that will give back to the community.

Tortorice’s won the competition for the second year in a row. The participating restaurants included Al’s Pizzeria, Dan’s Pizza, Giordano’s, John & Eddies, Lou Malnati’s, Marco’s Pizza and Tortorice’s.

According to D99 Education Foundation president Eric Olson, the idea for this event originated from a similar fundraiser in the Niles High School District.

“[The Education Foundation] liked the idea and thought that it would be a wonderful, family-friendly event that everyone would love,” Olson said. “It took us one year to research, plan, organize, and secure the pizzerias for the event.”

Advance tickets cost $10 and $12 at the door. The event provided each attendee one slice of pizza from each participating restaurant so they could vote for their favorite pizza at the end of the night.

Proceeds from the Pizza Wars will be put towards the foundation’s learner grants, which teachers at both D99 schools apply for in the spring. The foundation awards around $20,000 in grants per year. Some examples of past uses of grant money include DNA models, camera lenses and a teleprompter.

Pizza Wars is the largest fundraiser for the foundation, and this year’s funds are almost half of the foundation’s annual grant awards budget. Additional funds come from donations and sales of engraved bricks for each of the schools. Although the foundation pays for items such as napkins, water and advertisements, the pizzas are donated by the participating restaurants.