Danger von Dempsey’s Pizzeria took home first place for its dessert pizza at the Senza Frontiere World Pizza Championship last month.

This championship happened in Rimini, Italy, with over 30 countries and 120 pizza experts competing. South Dakota native Sean Dempsey was among the winners with his Carrots and Cream Dessert Pizza.

Dempsey owns pizzerias in Brookings and Watertown.

“Our very own Sean Danger von Dempsey won first place in dessert pizza in Rimini, Italy!” his business’ Facebook account announced in late January. “What an insanely great achievement. Way to go Sean!”

The World Pizza Championship was held Jan. 16-20 on the country’s east coast. The event featured pizza makers competing in 18 different categories, from classic pizza to traditional, Neapolitan pizza and Roman-style pizza. There were also more modern and innovative specialties including creative categories such as the dessert pizza competition where Dempsey won his gold medal.

“Winning pizza things in America is neat, but any American winning a pizza event in Italy is, well, it doesn’t really happen,” Dempsey told Dakota News Now in Sioux Falls.

Dempsey has 26 years of experience in the restaurant industry, starting at his family’s Watertown restaurant. He did not get into pizza making until 2014 when his passion began.

“I went to the Las Vegas Pizza Expo my first year, and being around all those guys and seeing all you can do on a pizza, that’s really pizza, that’s really where I got really passionate about doing weird stuff with pizza,” Dempsey said. “I saw that and knew I instantly wanted to get in on it. I like good competition, and I’m not very good at sports, but I can make a pretty neat pizza.”

Dempsey is a proud member of the United States Pizza Team. The team’s Instagram bio says it includes members from across the country who are “dedicated to bettering the pizza industry through camaraderie and competition.”

“We’re a group of basically pizza and jerseys. We all generally have our own shops somewhere around the nation.” Dempsey said. “Our team captains are from San Diego, California. We have guys in Florida, guys in Illinois, we have guys in Montana,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey said he wanted to get creative for the contest in Italy.

“I knew that we were going to Italy to compete in this category for dessert pizza, and I wanted something that was going to be a little weird, but not too weird, because Italy weird is bad, but this weird, I thought, might be OK,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey said he is hoping to expand his businesses throughout the area in the coming years.