A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban is to be honoured for her courage and determination.
Malala Yousafzai (15) has been named as the recipient of the 2012 Tipperary International Peace Award.
The education activist was attacked by Taliban gunmen last October after she campaigned for girls to go to school without fear in a part of the country where the Taliban had once imposed strict Sharia law.
The Tipperary Peace Convention said it was recognising Malala’s courage, determination and perseverance, along with the impact she has had across the world.
Malala, from the town of Mingora in the Swat district of Pakistan, was hit just above her left eye by a bullet that grazed the edge of her brain. She was flown to Britain and treated at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Others short-listed for the award included US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, president of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi, former Kenyan journalist John Githongo and Pax Christi International, a non-profit Catholic peace movement.
Previous recipients inc- lude former South African president Nelson Mandela and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. – (PA)