Photograph of Rachel Alexander Presenting Jo Osborne Award to Steven Kellogg

Pictured here is librarian Rachel Alexander (right) presenting author and illustrator Steven Kellogg (left) with the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature. Kellogg was the 1998 recipient of the award, and they are pictured at the award ceremony, which was held as part of The Ohio State University Children's Literature Conference.

The author and illustrator of over 100 books for children, Kellogg graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. His picture books include "Paul Bunyan," "Pecos Bill," and the Pinkerton series of books about a Great Dane named Pinkerton. He is the recipient of the prestigious Regina Medal for lifetime contribution to children's literature, as well as numerous other honors including the Irma Simonton Black Award, the IRA-CBC Children’s Choice Award and the Parents’ Choice Award. Throughout his career, Kellogg has celebrated love of reading by giving presentations across the country at schools, libraries and colleges.

The Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children’s Literature was established in 1996 in honor of Jo Osborne, who was a children’s librarian at Worthington Libraries from 1979 until her death at age 59 in 1995. The award sought to honor her commitment to bringing children, books and humor together, and recognized the art of humor in either a single children's book or in the body of work of a children's literature author. As described in the brochure for the award, Jo "sought out the silly, the funny, the poignant, the witty for storytelling and puppet shows to impart a love of books to all the children who were lucky enough to cross her path" during her years as a librarian.

In addition to Kellogg's receipt of the award in 1998, the other Jo Osborne Award winners were Patricia Polacco (1996), Sid Fleischman (1997), Jon Scieszka (1999), William Steig (2000), Rosemary Wells (2001), Kevin Henkes (2002), Tomie dePaola (2003), Paula Danzinger (2004), Daniel Pinkwater (2010), and Betsy Lewin (2011).

Rachel Alexander was the chairperson for the Jo Osborne Award, leading a committee of librarians and teachers who chose the winners. She is a former staff member for Worthington Libraries, where she served as community services librarian, children’s librarian, youth services manager and youth services materials selector.