Glen Mazza

Presented by Gail Krabben of the Rocky Mountain House Mountaineer

Glen Mazza received a Silver Quill award in recognition of 25 years of service to the community newspaper industry at the AWNA convention on June 3, 2017. Glen is publisher of The Mountaineer in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

Glen officially joined The Mountaineer after earning a B.Comm. degree from the University of Calgary in 1991.

In reality, the newspaper was always part of Glen’s life, since his parents Lawrence and Mildred Mazza, bought the business in 1967 – the year before he was born. Growing up, Glen helped with many aspects of the business like inserting flyers, delivering newspapers, working in the dark room and more. He also spent his summers working at The Mountaineer while he was going to university.

It was always Glen’s plan to take over the family business, in partnership with his older brother, Brian, who was the editor.

Glen officially became publisher of The Mountaineer on January 3, 1996. Early in his career, he helped the newspaper make the transition to desktop publishing as he learned the business of publishing a newspaper under the watchful eye of his father.

One of Glen’s greatest challenges came in 2006 with the passing of Lawrence Mazza, followed by Brian’s unexpected death only five months later. It was a harsh blow to a family business and the transition to find a new editor was difficult.

With the vision to move forward, Glen hired newspaper consultants Ken Blum and Ed Henninger. In 2009, The Mountaineer launched a redesign which brought the newspaper into the new millennium. The Mountaineer has consistently received awards, both provincially and nationally, since then.

Glen strongly believes the newspaper belongs to the community, and he is committed to accountability and high-quality, fair, balanced journalism.

Throughout his career, Glen has been an active member of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association:

He served on the AWNA Board as Corporate Secretary, 1997 - 1998

Chair of the Workshops/Symposium committee, 1998

Chair, Bing Crosby Golf Tournament, 2006
Membership committee member, 2013 - 2015

Glen is a dedicated family man, with wife Joanne, and two children, Andrew and Alyse.