From May 1–8, four Niverville restaurants battled it out for ultimate pizza dough-mination. After putting it to public vote, two contenders rose to the top.

For the second year in a row, Santa Lucia Pizza won the Best Overall category with their entry, the Funky Chicken. The made-for-competition pizza featured a cracker crust layered with homemade alfredo sauce, chicken, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, and side bacon.

Nabbing the honors for the Most Creative pizza was Flavours of India with their specialty butter chicken pie.

This year marked the third go-around for the Niverville Chamber of Commerce’s (NCC) pizza challenge.

“[A total of] 302 people voted,” says NCC director Bre-Ann Boulet.  “The most votes we have ever received.”

It’s not just the number of voters that surprised the Chamber, but also how tight the tally came. It was so close, in fact, that Pho Real! Niverville took an honourable mention with their Pho Get About It! Entry, which came in as a very close third.

Dean Delorme of Santa Lucia Pizza says they were excited to try something a bit different with the thin crust, which isn’t usually on the menu. In this case, though, it was a hit with the crowds. It helps, too, that they offered the pizza by the slice during the competition week so tasters could sample a smaller portion without having to buy an entire pie.

“Sometimes you’ve got to think outside the box,” Delorme says. “Especially when it comes to contest time.”

It’s too soon to say whether the Funky Chicken will become a fixture on the Santa Lucia menu but Delorme is making his pitch to corporate in the hopes that it will.

For Delorme and his team of local young people, planning for the pizza wars begins a full year in advance. At this stage, they’ve already decided what the 2027 entry will be.

“We’re going to go back to where it all started,” he says. “Santa Lucia was established in 1971. The pizza that they made back in the old days is what made them who they are today. So we’re going a little old school [next year].”

Harshul Monga of Flavours of India says, for the 2026 contest, he took an item already on his menu and tweaked it for a different twist. The traditional hot peppers were replaced by roasted peppers and corn to mellow the heat. He finished it off with a grating of fresh ginger and garlic over the whole thing.

“It makes me happy that the people love what I created,” Monga says. “[I appreciate] the support that I got from the community this last week.”

Now he’s more determined than ever to experiment with dishes that fuse the Indian, Italian, and even French cultures.

“You’ll be seeing butter chicken pasta on our menu and butter paneer pasta,” Monga says. “I’m very hopeful that people are going to love it. Also, I’m bringing in samosa poutine.”