By Emily Koehne
WORLD NEWS WRITER

On October 10th, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient at just 17 years old. She is sharing this award with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights activist.

Malala Yousafzai at the United Nations last year.
Photo Credit: New York Times

Malala began campaigning for women’s education rights when she was 11 years old, resulting in a death threat from the Taliban. On her way home from school on October  9th, 2012, she was shot in the head by a Muslim extremist.

Malala miraculously survived the head shot, and continues to speak out for the importance of education. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, was nominated again in 2014, and  finally won!

“Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education and has shown by example that children and young people too can contribute to improving their own situations,” said chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland.

Today, Malala attends Edgbaston High School for Girls. Since she is young, the rest of her life is still unclear, but she says she wants to attend Oxford. On Friday, October 10th, Malala Yousafzai said, the prize is “an encouragement for me to go forward and believe in myself.”