Pakistani Schoolgirl Malala Tipped for Nobel Peace Prize

World | October 11, 2013, Friday // 08:15|  views

On Thursday, Malala Yousafzai was named as the winner of the EU's Sakharov prize, an award considered Europe's top human rights accolade. Photo EPA/BGNES

Pakistani schoolgirl and winner of the EU's Sakharov prize, Malala Yousafzai, is a top contender for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

If she wins, Malala, 16, will be the youngest-ever Nobel laureate. She will receive a gold medal and USD 1.25 M.

Malala rose to prominence in 2009 after writing a blog anonymously for the BBC Urdu service about her life under Taliban rule in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

She continued her work to promote better rights for girls, particularly the right to receive education, despite being shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Just one day ago she won the EU's Sakharov prize and a EUR 50 000 award.

The BBC reminds that bookmakers have placed Malala as 3/5 favorite on a list which includes long shots such as U2 singer Bono, Russian President Vladimir Putin and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honors will be revealed in Oslo at 11:00 local time Friday.

This year's record list of 259 nominees remains a secret.

Others tipped for the prize include gynecologist Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a doctor who helped rape victims; Chelsea Manning, the US soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks, Maggie Gobran, an Egyptian computer scientist who abandoned her academic career to become a Coptic Christian nun and founded the charity Stephen's Children, and Russian former mathematics professor Svetlana Gannushinka who set up the rights group Civil Assistance.

Previous Nobel peace prize laureates include anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, US President Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In 2012 the prize was awarded to the European Union in recognition of its contribution to peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.

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Tags: Pakistani, schoolgirl, Malala Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai, winner, EU's Sakharov prize

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