50 Top Pizza curators Paola Guerra and Albert Sapere, who presented the event held inside the James Beard House in Greenwich Village, explained that the judges are asked to rate the pizzerias independently of style and instead focus on things such as the quality of the products, the ingredients that go into the pizza, and the atmosphere, the experience of the place itself.

As this year’s top pizzaiolo, Dan Richer, mentioned in his brief speech, “pizza-making is all about the details. It’s an extremely precise and complicated process that seldom gets the recognition it deserves.”