Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony

December 11, 2014

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi received the Nobel Peace Prize during an award ceremony in Oslo, Norway on December 10th. Malala accepted the Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma while her family watched on with pride and clear emotion on their faces as she became the youngest recipient ever of a Nobel Prize.

Malala also brought 5 honored guests to the award ceremony that she mentions in her acceptance speech. Two of the young women, Shazia Ramzan and Kainat Riaz, were classmates of Malala’s. Shazia and Kainat were both shot during the 2012 Taliban attack that nearly ended Malala’s life.

The three other young women Malala brought as guests are all activists. Kainat Soomro is a young Pakistani woman who continues to fight for justice after a brutal sexual assault that took place when she was only 13 years old. Mazon Almellehan is a 16 year old education advocate and Syrian refugee. Malala’s last guest is Amina Yusuf. Amina is a 17 year old Nigerian girl who mentors young girls in Northern Nigeria.

Malala ended her speech with this important message:

“Let us become the first generation to decide to be the last that sees empty classrooms, lost childhoods, and wasted potential.

Let this be the last time that a boy or a girl spends their childhood in a factory.

Let this be the last time that a girl is forced into early child marriage.

Let this be the last time that an innocent child loses life in in war.

Let this be the last time that a child remains out of school.

Let this end with us.

And let us begin this ending…together…today…right here, right now.”

Click here to read the rest of Malala’s Nobel Lecture
Malala’s Full Acceptance Speech: