By Alex Rawlings--Uniquely comical, expressive caricatures of a young Metis dancer and her grandma earned Chris Auchter an honourable mention for this year's prestigious Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award."It was a big surprise, I didn't even know that the publisher had submitted it, so this came right out of the blue, and apparently it is quite a big deal as it is a prestigious award for animators, so an honourable mention kind of made me feel proud," said Mr. Auchter, formerly of Skidegate.The Haida illustrator and artist provided full page coloured illustrations that complemented a story that tells of a young girl struggling to assert her individuality, eventually realising herself as a skilled Metis Jig dancer. "It has been a really fun experience," he said, "and it is kind of funny, when I was growing up I used to play baseball and my friend always got his name in the Observer and I never did, so this is great because now I have my name in the Observer," he said, chuckling.Other works by Mr. Auchter include 'How People Got Fire', and 'Jumping Jack Crash!' which won first place in the animation category of the Electronic Arts Great Canadian Art competition.Mr. Auchter is now working on two other children's books that will be released in September, and his animation can be seen on APTN.