Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old education campaigner who was shot by the Taliban while on a school bus in 2012, has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Pakistan-born Malala is the youngest winner of the prize, and shares it with Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. The pair were awarded £690,000 ($1.11m) by Thorbjoern Jagland, who is chairman of the Nobel committee and the former prime minister of Norway. In a statement Malala made on Friday outside her school, she said what a "great honor" the award was: "I'm proud that I'm the first Pakistani and the first young woman or the first young person getting this award."
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe youngster found out during her school day, and revealed: "When I found I had won the Nobel peace prize I decided I would not leave my school, rather I would finish my school time."
"I went to the physics lessons, I learned. I went to the English lesson. I considered it like a normal day. I was really happy with the response of my teachers and my fellow students. They were all saying they were proud."
She continued: "My message to children all around the world is that they should stand up for their rights. I felt more powerful and more courageous because this award is not just a piece of metal or a medal you wear or an award you keep in your room."
"This is encouragement for me to go forward."
Malala, who moved to the UK for medical treatment and now studies at Edgebaston High School in Birmingham.
The Nobel Peace Prize's official Twitter account announced the news at 10am on Friday from the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
© Photo: Getty ImagesMalala pictured with her brother Atal, mother Tor Pekai and father Ziauddin
"BREAKING NEWS: The #nobelprize2014 in Peace is awarded to Indian Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani Malala Yousafzay," read the post.
Kailash Satyarthi, who shares the prize with Malala, is a 60-year-old children's rights campaigner who has been involved in the Indian movement against child labour since the 1990s.
Malala has been awarded for her bravery and dedication to promoting education for women numerous times since her attempted assasination two years ago.
In September 2013 she received the Leadership in Civil Society Award from Queen Rania of Jordan at the Clinton Global Initiative's Citizen Awards Dinner in New York.
Angelina Jolie has also spoken of her admiration for the schoolgirl, pledging to donate money to her fund and saying: "After reading an article, I felt compelled to share Malala's story with my children. "It was difficult for them to comprehend a world where men would try to kill a child whose only 'crime' was the desire that she and others like her be allowed to go to school."
