The District 219 Education Foundation for Excellence, with the help of Dance Marathon,  hosted Pizza Wars 2 at Niles West High School on  Jan. 19.

The Foundation for Excellence provides different resources that are outside the regular district budget to help provide a better education to Niles Township High Schools students. “This past year, the foundation granted just under $40,000 to meet the needs of students,” Alyse Berman, Foundation vice chairman said.

The 12 pizzerias that participated and donated pizzas this year were Di Caputos Pizzeria, Domino’s, Edwardo’s, Gulliver’s, Jet’s, Lou Malnati’s, Nancy’s, Organic Life, Papa John’s, Pequod’s, Sarpino’s and Village Inn. At the end of the night Jet’s Pizza was announced the winner.

Pizza Wars is a contest to win the title of the best pizza within the District 219 borders. Each person attending the competition gets a slice of pizza from all different pizzerias and votes for the best one by dropping a chip into the appropriate glass jar. At the close of the event, the votes are counted and the winner is determined.

The 2012 winner, Jet’s, received a trophy that is “designed and engineered by the Engineering Department of Niles North and West High School,”  Berman said. “The 2011 trophy was awarded to Pequod’s in Morton Grove.”

Both last year and this year, Pizza Wars was a huge success for both the pizzerias and the Foundation. “Many people from both North and West came and they all had a lot of fun and great pizza,” Pankaj Sharma, a sponsor of Dance Marathon, said.  The 2012 event raised more than $3,500 for the Foundation. Pizza Wars coordinators and volunteers have high hopes to surpass this year’s proceeds next year and develop Pizza Wars as a continuing successful charitable event.