Photograph of Rachel Cuthbert, Jon Scieszka and Rachel Alexander

This photograph shows (left to right) Rachel Cuthbert, author Jon Scieszka and Rachel Alexander at the 1999 Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature ceremony. The ceremony for the award took place on February 12, 1999, as part of The Ohio State University Children's Literature Conference. Scieszka was the 1999 winner of the award, which he is pictured holding. Rachel Cuthbert is the granddaughter of Jo Osborne, for whom the award was named. Rachel Alexander served as chairperson for the award committee.

Scieszka is the author of numerous picture books, many in collaboration with illustrator Lane Smith. His works include "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!," an ALA Notable Book, "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales," a Caldecott Honor Book, and the Frank Einstein series of books. He is also the founder of Guys Read, a literacy initiative for boys, and is the first US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

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 Scieszka's receipt of the award in 1999, the other Jo Osborne Award winners were Patricia Polacco (1996), Sid Fleischman (1997), Steven Kellogg (1998), 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.