Two Ontario chefs just took home top prizes at the world's biggest pizza competition

Two Ontario chefs were just named among the best on earth at the world's biggest pizza-making competition. The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games may have long since wound down, but, over the past week, a different battle of international proportions has been raging on: the annual International Pizza Challenge . Taking place at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, where top pizza makers from around the world all coalesce under one roof between March 24 and 26, only a select few attendees go on to compete in the marquee event: the pizza challenge. The challenge, which runs for the duration of the main event, sees dozens of international pizza chefs bake their pies on-site to be judged by an illustrious panel of professionals in five categories: Traditional, Non-Traditional, Best Cheese Slice, Pan, Neapolitan, and Classica. In the end, the finals yielded results any Ontario resident would be proud of: local pizza chefs took home first-place in both the Cheese Slice and Classica categories. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Paulo Guerra (@paulomakespizza) It was Paulo Guerra, who took home the top prize at Toronto's Restaurants Canada Show earlier this month, who ended up securing the first-place finish in the Classica category, a staggering jump from his (still impressive) performance at the 2025 International Pizza Challenge, where he secured ninth place for his Traditional pie. At the time of his RC Show win, Guerra told blogTO that his only hope was to improve his score from last year. Mission accomplished. After competing consecutively for other restaurants (Gatto Wood Fired in 2025, Lambretta in 2026), Paulo took this opportunity to venture out on his own, competing under his own catering company, Paulomakespizza . Upon his return to Toronto, one can only imagine that his venture will become the talk of the town. As for the Best Cheese Slice category, that honour belongs to Kevin Moreira from Binbrook's Boa Bakery . View this post on Instagram A post shared by Boa Bakery (@boabakery) A husband-and-wife operation situated just outside of Hamilton, Boa is a quintessential "if you know, you know" Italian bakery. A whole lot more people are going to know, now. Guerro and Moreira aren't the only Canadian pizzaiolos to win big at the competition, either. In the Traditional division, Patrice Desmeules from Pizzeria No. 900's Beauport location finished in first place, while Marko D'Agata, representing Pizzeria No. 900's flagship, took home gold in the Pan division. Canada may not have won gold in either of our hockey finals during the Olympics (yes, I'm still bitter about that), but, at the very least, our pizza chefs are putting on a seriously impressive performance on the world stage.

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