Ladner's Melissa VanDiermen won $3,500 for her submission to a national Royal LePage My Great Neighbourhood contest.

VanDiermen finished in second place out of more than 500 submissions.

Entrants were asked to submit a video or photos about what makes them so passionate about their community.

"I highlighted a lot of the different parts of Ladner, why people would love to come here and even live here," said VanDiermen of the approximately six-minute video she submitted.

Her video focused on real estate, nature and what a "warm, welcoming community that Ladner is," she said.

VanDiermen, a special education teacher's assistant for the Delta school district, is a lifelong Ladner resident.

She noted the top prize in the contest, which she read about last summer in the Optimist, was worth $20,000.

"That's what I was aiming for, but one of the top three is great."

VanDiermen also said she was grateful for the video editing help from a Delta Secondary student.

She plans to pay off some bills and go on a "little shopping spree" with the prize money.

A jury evaluated entries after a public voting period. Votes on Facebook were tallied for consideration and winners were picked based on the creative, original, informative and compelling nature of their entries.

Visit http: //mygreatneighbourhood.royallepage.ca/home to watch VanDiermen's video.

dwillis@delta-optimist.com