Pakistani schoolgirl Malala nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, has been nominated for one of the world's top awards.

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The 15-year-old is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, which each year is awarded to a person or organisation that's seen to promote friendliness and peace.

This year a record 259 nominations were received and the winner of the prize will be announced in October.

The Nobel Prizes also include awards in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature.

Malala Yousafzai, was put forward by three Norwegian MPs, who praised her 'commitment so threatening to extremists that they tried to kill her'.

Freddy de Ruiter, from the country's ruling Labor party, said her courage in speaking out, particularly on the subject of a girls' right to education, made her a worthy candidate.

Gorm Kjernli said on the party's website yesterday that the teenager had 'made ​​a strong impression on the whole world.' 

He added: 'She represents a younger generation that uses social media to reach out with their message about girls' right to equal opportunities.' 

Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman at point blank range as she travelled home from school by bus on October 9. 

Her attacker boarded the vehicle in Pakistan's Swat Valley and asked for her by name before firing three shots at her in front of her horrified friends.

She was singled out after writing a blog criticising the Islamist organisation.

Malala was flown to a hospital in the UK a week later, and is now having a final major operation to place a titanium plate over the hole left in her skull. 

She has received thousands of messages from well-wishers around the world, and continued to speak out on behalf of her cause.

The 15-year-old is now an internationally recognised symbol of opposition to the Taliban's drive to deny women education, and against religious extremism in a country where women's rights are often flouted.

From CBBC News and Mail online