Exactly a year ago, the Nobel Prize committee was just about to announce the winner of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. It was widely believed that Malala Yousafzai, then 16, would win. Malala had been – and still is – an outspoken advocate for girls’ education, not to mention the survivor of a horrific attempted murder by the Taliban (the Taliban still want to kill her, just FYI). Long story short, Malala didn’t win last year and people were pissed! So… Malala won the Peace Prize this year. Better late than never? Congrats, Malala!

Reaching across gulfs of age, gender, faith, nationality and even international celebrity, the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the 2014 peace prize to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India, joining a teenage Pakistani known around the world with an Indian veteran of campaigns on behalf of children. At age 17, Ms. Yousafzai is the youngest recipient of the $1.1 million prize since it was created in 1901. Mr. Satyarthi is 60.

The awards, announced in Oslo by Thorbjorn Jagland, the committee’s chairman, were in acknowledgment of their work in helping to promote universal schooling and in protecting children worldwide from abuse and exploitation, particularly young laborers in India on whose behalf Mr. Satyarthi has campaigned for decades.

Pointedly, Mr. Jagland said, “The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.”

“Children must go to school and not be financially exploited,” Mr. Jagland said. “It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation. Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights.”

Despite his works, Mr. Satyarthi is not nearly so widely known as Ms. Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for her campaigning on behalf of girls’ education in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. She was 15 at the time. Since then she has become a global emblem of her struggle, celebrated on television and publishing a memoir.

She “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,” Mr. Jagland said. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle, she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”

[From The NY Times]

You can read more about Malala’s work and Mr. Satyarthi’s work at the New York Times link. I do think it’s interesting that they made a Hindu and a Muslim co-winners for work in education advocacy. I’m not sure what it means or anything, but I’m just happy that Malala won. She’s definitely worthy. Her eloquence, passion and commitment to nonviolence bring grown men to tears. Even Jon Stewart wanted to adopt her!

Go here to donate to The Malala Fund.

Photos courtesy of WENN.