With the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments just around the corner, we’re joining the fun of bracket competitions with a face-off of our own with our RICtoday pizza bracket.

But first, we need your help nominating the spots you think should be in the running.

Using the nomination form, submit the local spot with your favorite slice of pie, and we’ll use your nominations to create a bracket and battle it out in our newsletter and on social media.

Need to brush up on Richmond 'za? Check out our ultimate pizza guide to get started.

Round 1

This year, we asked you to share your favorite pizza in Richmond for a friendly bracket competition. Now — thanks to you and the help of a random generator — we have the official lineupfor our bracket.

Who’s in the running

Going head-to-head in the first round are:

8 1/2 and Hot for Pizza | 8 1/2 offers classic pies, while Hot for Pizza's new-school 'za includes the Temple of Boom and the Atomic Punk.
Pizza Bones and Zorch Pizza | Union Hill's Pizza Bones mixes up its offerings of fresh pies, but Zorch is Carytown's favorite spot for a New York-style slice.
Belmont Pizzeria and Mary Angela's | These iconic River City pizzerias are less than a mile from each other.
Pupatella and Bottoms Up | Pupatella's Neapolitan fair includes a variety of red and white pizzas, while Bottoms Up offers everything from the Karen Combo to the Goat in the Garden.

Other River City pizza spots we got nominations for included Capriccio's, Secret Squares, Leonardo’s, and Fire & Hops — but we had to cap it at just eight.

How it works

Beginning today, we will host several voting rounds within our newsletters and social channels to determine Richmond’s best pizza. Who moves on is up to you. Vote for your favorites, and the pizzeria with more votes moves on. We’ll go until we have a champion, which will be announced in our Monday, March 25 newsletter. You will be able to voteonce per round.

How to participate

Vote for the pizza you’d like to see advance to round two using this poll. You can vote for all four spots or as few as one. Once we count all the votes, we’ll share an updated bracket and new poll in an upcoming newsletter.

Round 2

Welcome back to our RICtoday pizza bracket, where we’re asking you to determine the best pizza in Richmond.

After our initial round of votes, we’re down to four “teams” left:

8 1/2 and Zorch Pizza | We don't envy having to choose between a classic Italian pie and a New York-style slice.
Belmont Pizzeria and Pupatella | Belmont narrowly defeated Carytown staple Mary Angela's in the first round and now faces off against the Neapolitan artists at Pupatella.

Cast a vote in Round 2 here.

Round 3

Can you hear that? It's the final countdown.

After a star-studded semifinal, we've got two “teams” left standing:

Zorch Pizza | Fans of this New York-style pizzeria rocked the vote last week and secured their favorite pie a spot in the finals over 8 1/2.
Belmont Pizzeria | By a narrow margin of just six votes, Belmont Pizzeria edged out Pupatella to advance again. Can it make it all the way?

And the winner is ...

And the bracket winner is … Zorch Pizza, voted best pizza in Richmond by our readers and social media followers in our RICtoday pizza bracket. The Carytown spot has quickly become a staple for its specialty pies and New York-style slices.

We want to extend a major “thank you” to all of you for participating in our bracket challenge the past few weeks. We’ve had a blast seeing how the votes shook out, and we hope you did too. Looking for more pizza around town? Check out our guide.