TWO pizza restaurants have competed in the National Pizza Awards.

Purezza and Pizzaface were among 15 establishments to take part in the annual pizza making competition.

Vegan pizzeria Purezza has restaurants in St James’s Street and Western Road, while Pizzaface has four sites across Sussex in Brighton, Hove, Kemp Town and Worthing.

The two restaurants competed in a series of pizza making challenges during the awards event in Islington, London, on Monday.

The Argus: Vegan pizzeria Purezza Vegan pizzeria Purezza

However, they were beaten to the National Pizza Award by Roman style pizzeria Mike’s Peckham.

In second place was Bath Pizza Co and in third was Ralphs Margate.

Mike’s Peckham’s head chef Francesco Canzani impressed judges with their Dondini pizza, which features 'nduja, roasted peppers dressed with white balsamic vinegar, jalapeños, ricotta and finocchiona salami.

The London-based site only opened in April 2021.

The Argus: Pizza from vegan pizzeria Purezza Pizza from vegan pizzeria Purezza

Mike’s Peckham co-owner Mike Davies said: “Francesco has worked so hard to make a dough as special as it is. It’s a little bit different from the other kinds of pizzas that were in the final, so it’s nice to have that kind of representation.

“Roman-style pizza – especially pizza Italia, which is the kind of pizza that we make – is really not an old tradition; it’s probably about 40 years old. Neapolitan pizza has obviously been made for a lot longer than that.

“The thing about Roman as a tradition is that there are less rules, so it means that we can be a bit more flexible with toppings. You’ll find things that you wouldn’t necessarily find on a more classic pizza.

“I love all kinds of pizza to be honest, but I’m quite excited by the idea of something a bit less traditional getting the credit it deserves.”

The National Pizza Awards also crowned Laurence Tottingham of Revolution Bars Group as the Pizza Chef of the Year.

The awards were hosted by broadcaster Nigel Barden and sponsored by Tabasco, Birra Morretti, Diversey, Mutti Pomodoro, Peppadew, Schulstad, Jestic, Moth, Galbani, Properoni and Fleet Street Communications.