NEO's Best: The hunt for the best pizza in Northeast Ohio (How to vote)

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We are on the hunt for Northeast Ohio's Best Pizza.  Our first "NEO's Best"" project kicks off today. The goal? To tap your pizza knowledge -- and your community pride -- in a 6-week search to find Northeast Ohio's Best Pizza.  Two of Northeast Ohio Media Group's entertainment reporters -- Restaurants & Dining Editor Joe Crea and  Kristel's CLE host Kristel Hartshorn -- and entertainment producer Nate Paige, will lead the quest, which will be anchored online at cleveland.com/NEOsBest.

Your votes will determine the best pizza in each of 10 regions across Northeast Ohio. Then, those 10 Regional Winners will compete for the top prize of Best Pizza. Your votes will determine the People's Choice Winner. Joe Crea will taste-test all of the 10 regional finalists and determine an overall Grand Prize Winner.

Here's how it will work:
 
Weeks of July 14 and July 21 (Nominations)
 
Nominate your favorite pizza shop in the comments section of any "NEO's Best: Pizza" post. We're looking for nominations in the following 10 regions:
 
1. Cleveland East (City of Cleveland, east of the Cuyahoga River)
2. Cleveland West (City of Cleveland, west of the Cuyahoga River)
3. Suburban Cuyahoga County Northeast (East of I-77, north of I-480)
4. Suburban Cuyahoga County Northwest (West of I-77, north of I-480)
5. Suburban Cuyahoga County Southeast (East of I-77, south of I-480)
6. Suburban Cuyahoga County Southwest (West of I-77, south of I-480)
7. Lake & Geauga counties
8. Lorain County
9. Summit County
10. Medina County
 
No national chains are allowed for this part of the search.

Up to the Top 10 nominees in EACH region will go on to the next stage of the competition.  Joe, Kristel and Nate will deliver daily posts and updates during the two-week nomination process. Nate will watch comments and interact with you there. He'll let you know what pizza shops are getting the most buzz and do separate posts on them.  He'll look for other trends and discuss them with you, too. We'll also do posts and video from Joe and Kristel, exploring certain pizza topics -- trends, cooking methods, local pizza history, etc.

The top nominees in each region will be announced in the early afternoon of Monday, July 28.

Weeks of July 28 and Aug. 4 (Regional voting)

The top nominees in each region compete for your votes. Each regional winner moves on to the Finals and is eligible to be named NEO's Best Pizza. The regional winners will be announced online in the early afternoon of Monday, Aug. 11.
 
Weeks of Aug. 11 and Aug. 18 (The Finals)
The 10 regional winners compete for your votes for NEO's Best Pizza. Each regional winner gets a visit from Joe and Kristel, who will do a People's Choice taste-testing video segment on each. The public will be invited to join Joe and Kristel at the tastings.  We'll Tweet about each visit and engage you on Facebook, too. Photo galleries and video will accompany each of the visit posts.
 
While Joe and Kristel do the tour, we will poll you, looking for input on which pizza should be the Grand Prize winner.  We'll name a People's Choice winner based on your votes. Joe will name the Grand Prize winner based on his taste tests of the 10 finalists. We'll name a runner-up in each category, and maybe a few honorable mentions.
 
Weeks of Aug. 25 and Sept. 2

The People's Choice and Grand Prize winners will be announced online early in the afternoon of Monday, Aug. 25.

We'll keep the pizza buzz going for the next two weeks with more posts, photos and video AND we'll ask you to weigh in again, this time to name your favorite pizzas in various categories:

Best Chain Pizza
Best thin-crust pizza
Best deep-dish pizza
Best pizza by the slice
Best vegan pizza
Best gluten-free pizza
Best chain pizza
Best use of bacon on a pizza

And maybe some others, too, depending on your input.

Let the pizza games begin!