12/14/2007 | Super-size prizes: $18,500 up for grabs in 2008 Pizza Pizzazz

When the combined first place prizes for Pizza Pizzazz reached a record $10,000 in 2007, the contest’s 100 entries were gobbled up in mere weeks. In its previous 13 years, the contest never had sold out.

Entries likely will disappear faster this year with a potential $17,000 for first place wins—$8,500 both in the Traditional and Gourmet categories—on the line when the contest commences Feb. 17-18, in Columbus , Ohio , during the North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show (NAPICS).

Through a combination of sponsorships, NAPICS is posting $15,000 in first place prize money. But if a winning pie is baked on pans made by Lloyd Industries, the manufacturer will kick in a $1,000 bonus.

For years, Lloyd president, John Crow , donated custom-made commemorative pizza tools to Pizzazz entrants, but this year he wanted to make a more memorable impact.

“I wanted to give them a good incentive to use our pans,” said Crow, founder of the Spokane , Wash. , company, which makes hard-anodized aluminum baking pans. “If they don’t currently use our pans, then they can go to our Web site and order some. And if they do, we’ll give them free shipping.”

Prizes have changed immensely since Ann and Jim Reichle won $300 for a first-place effort in Pizza Pizzazz more than a decade ago. Ann Reichle said the money represented a life-saving sum for their struggling business, Angelina’s Pizza, located in Olmsted Falls , Ohio . But more importantly, it gave the brand a marketing boost worth much more.

“To us, and at that moment, it was all about that $300 because we needed it to buy a meat slicer,” said Reichle, NAPICS chairwoman. “But after that, it wasn’t about the money. It was about what the win did for us and our business. The net effect of winning Pizza Pizzazz that year and again in another year was the exposure it gave us on TV and in newspapers. It was what grew our business.”

David Smith II, owner of Pizza Palace Plus, agreed that the marketing impact is worth much more than $7,500.

“That amount of money will only get me a week’s worth of food in my restaurant—one truckload,” Smith said. “This is about winning, period. If there’s prize money involved that’s gravy. But that doesn’t bring customers through my door. Winning brings customers through my door.”