Dipnetting with Dad, written by Willie Sellars and illustrated by Kevin Easthope, has won the Gold Medal for Moonbeam Award’s Best First Picture Book.

The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are an international award for children’s books published in English or Spanish. The awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to celebrate children’s books and life-long reading.

Dipnetting with Dad, a B.C. Bestseller, continues to reach young readers and was also a 2014 Ontario Library Association “Best Bet” and was shortlisted for a Shining Willow Award and a Chocolate Lily Award.

In his first book, Williams Lake Indian Band councillor Sellars tells the story of dip net fishing with his dad and uncles. and their visits to a sweat lodge.

Debut artist Kevin Easthope’s contemporary and dynamic illustrations bring the characters to life as they jump off the page and pull you into their world.

Illustrator Easthope was born and raised in Williams Lake and attended UBC Okanagan where he graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2008. While he is an artist and musician, he presently makes a living fighting forest fires for the province of B.C,

Easthope is among 16 artists whose work is currently featured at the Station House Gallery’s October show Into the Wind.