Welcome to your award-winning Highline Times.

In April, our ace freelancer, Deanna Duff picked up four awards from the Washington Press Association for her work in the Highline Times.

She won a second place award in WPA’s 2012 Communication Contest for chronicling her food tour of SeaTac. It turns out that thanks to all those business travelers with their generous expense accounts we locals have access to some great restaurants over on the highway.

And who knew there was a Japanese preschool in Des Moines? Deanna wrote about it and garnered an honorable mention for general news.

In the education category, Deanna won second and third places for “Earth heroes get dirty” and “Students walk toward future.”

Deanna, a “more than full time” freelancer, also earned three more awards. Those were mostly for her articles in those glossy regional “lifestyle” magazines you see at your dentist’s office or in the supermarket checkout line.

Overall, Deanna placed third in the state press association’s “Communicator of Excellence” sweepstakes award.

You’re getting some great stuff from talented journalists in your humble community newspaper/website.

However, for all her great reporting skills, Deanna would be hard pressed to dig up a more dramatic and heartwarming story than the one we ran about ten years ago.

It was about a mother, father and daughter who volunteered unselfishly to help their North Highline community.

When the daughter was younger, her mom wanted a business where she could spend time with her child. So the family bought up parcels around their home, cleared the land and created a farm in the middle of a residential neighborhood. They also acquired a Kent mini-farm that was the daughter’s “baby.”

But then 22-year-old Deanna Duff was diagnosed with an advanced case of lymphoma. She faced a scary six-month rigorous regimen of chemotherapy. Focused on Deanna’s health, the Duffs had to leave “Duffield Farm” in Kent untended.

That’s when the community members who the family had touched throughout the years rallied to help the Duffs.

North Highline Fire Chief Russ Pritchard pledged they would weed, harvest and sell the crops.

After working 24-hour shifts, about 15 North Highline firefighters went out to Kent and worked their hearts out.

“I just stood there and cried,” I quoted Deanna back then. “What they did in a short amount of time was overwhelming. If you want something done, get a firefighter to do it.”

Up to 125 volunteers showed up at subsequent “Dig in for Deanna” events.

But as Deanna’s cancer was, thankfully, going into remission, medical tests were confirming that Chief Pritchard’s esophagus had been invaded by cancer cells.

He was told he needed a 14-hour surgery to remove 30 percent of his stomach. Doctors predicted after surgery he would lie unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit for three days and remain in the hospital for two weeks.

For inspiration, the tough fire chief looked to young Deanna.

“When I saw how strong the Duffs were, it made me strong,” Pritchard declared. “They taught us how to be strong. I used to think, ‘Why are we getting down? Look at Deanna.’”

Just four months after the surgery, Pritchard was pronounced cancer free and allowed to go back to work without restrictions. Surgeons said they had never seen such a quick recovery.

A decade later Deanna says she doesn’t dwell that much on her illness.

“The point was to move forward,” Deanna explains. “The greatest accomplishment is that it doesn’t define me.”

Now she’s focused on freelancing. She’s had job offers but for now she wants to broaden her base with a wide variety of assignments and experiences.

Deanna had already been writing for those fancy regional magazines and a national website when she started contributing to the Highline Times.

“It’s an illustration of how strongly I feel about community newspapers. I can write and give back to my community,” Deanna noted.

Deanna still remembers when her sixth grade Shorewood Elementary class won a state award and the Highline Times printed their photo.

“As little kids, it was huge for us,” Deanna recalls.

We have been around for a long time-- since 1946. Jerry Robinson is celebrating his 60th anniversary as a publisher in these parts.

In our print paper and on our website (www.highlinetimes.com) we’ll just keep on serving the community, using talented professionals like Deanna.