Pizza Fusion, a pioneer in the natural and organic restaurant movement, has launched an online video contest through the month of April in search of the country's most creative and earth-friendly pizza recipe.
"Pizza lovers can share their favorite earth-friendly pizza recipe online by posting a video creating their masterpiece on YouTube," said Vaughan Lazar, founder and president of Pizza Fusion. "We decided to make this campaign 100 percent paperless to raise awareness for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and to help promote it, we brought in an expert panel of judges including celebrity Chef Aaron McCargo Jr., star of Food Network's Big Daddy's House."
The winner will be announced online May 1 and will be awarded a trip for two to an organic and sustainable vineyard, a year's worth of organic beverages from Honest Tea and Give Natural Spring Water, and an "Eco-Design" bike from Trek Bikes. The winners recipe also will be posted on Pizza Fusion's Web site.
To enter, participants can upload their short video clip on YouTube or at www.Earthdaycontest.com, where a panel of judges will review the top five videos that garner the most views from now through April 30. Participants are encouraged to spread the word about their video to family and friends through social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.
The judges will evaluate the videos based on creativity, earth-friendly value, overall presentation and edibility. "You have to be able to eat this pizza," added Lazar.
Joining Lazar as a judge will be chef McCargo of Food Network's Big Daddy's House; Michael Singer, online editor of Bon Appétit; Craig Agranoff, blogger and founder of WorstPizza.com; and Jen Friel, actress and blogger.
"Pizza happens to be one of my favorite dishes to cook with the family," McCargo said. "In our house, it's about having fun in the kitchen and tossing around some creative, spicy pizza recipes!"
In addition to voting online, participants and their supporters can make contributions to Share Our Strength, a national organization that works to end childhood hunger in America
During the entire month of April, participating Pizza Fusion locations will set up "dough-nation" buckets where 100 percent of the proceeds go to Share Our Strength as well as online at www.PizzaFusion.com.
