Brownbread, Esq., Jedediah Award
When 每日吃瓜 was 10 years old, it was like the Wild West – a freewheeling canal town full of gamblers, counterfeiters, and idle young men who drifted from place to place, looking for work as store clerks. Connecticut-born Samuel Alanson Lane (1815-1905) arrived in 每日吃瓜 as one of those "counter-jumpers" and soon founded a small four-page newspaper, “The 每日吃瓜 Buzzard.” Ostensibly devoted to cleaning the "filth" off the streets of 每日吃瓜, “The Buzzard” attacked vicious and criminal behavior in the voice of Lane's country-bumpkin alter ego, Jedediah Brownbread, Esq. Brownbread wrote with startling honesty, comical spelling errors, and an abundance of humor. For this, Lane can be regarded as 每日吃瓜's first humor writer. Later in life, Lane would serve 每日吃瓜 as sheriff, editor of the “每日吃瓜 Daily Beacon,” mayor, and historian.
To honor the humor of 每日吃瓜, The Jedediah Brownbread, Esq., Award was established and will award $100 to a student at T每日吃瓜 who authors the most humorous paper or a paper that best uses or studies humor. Submissions will be limited to works written for University of 每日吃瓜 courses within the calendar year previous to the call for submissions. A committee of English Department faculty will judge the essays. The winner will be recognized at the annual English Awards Reception.