Malala Yousafzai has been awarded the international Children’s Peace Prize for her work promoting education for girls.

In her speech  Malala said that she was accepting the award, “on behalf of all of the children in the world who are trying to go to school, and all of those parents who are overcoming fear and intimidation – or cultural opposition – to give their sons and daughters the chance of an education.”

“In my home country of Pakistan, the Taliban uses terror to try and stop girls going to school,” she said. “I was just one target for their violence. There are many others whose names are not known. It is for them that we must continue our campaign to ensure that all children in the world have the chance to go to school.”

Tawakkol Karman from Yemen, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, handed Malala the prize, calling her “my hero” and saying “you have become an inexhaustible source of inspiration to millions of girls.”

The Children’s Peace Prize is awarded each year by a Dutch foundation to honor the achievements of an inspirational child activist. The award includes a prize of 100,000 Euros that will be invested in education projects for girls in Pakistan.