Malala Yousafzai is a 2013 Glamour Woman of the Year

Teenage activist Malala Yousufzai was named a 2013 Glamour Woman of the Year, the magazine’s website reported. Malala was shot by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) gunmen last year for promoting girls’ education. She now lives in the UK after she was flown there for medical treatment. With this announcement, the magazine will kick off a yearlong campaign to raise support for the Malala Fund, which helps programs that directly impact the quality and accessibility of education for girls.

Malala is one of the 12 trailblazers, entertainers, influencers, and game changers who – according to Glamour magazine – shaped the year 2013. This is not the first time Glamour has honoured a Pakistani woman. Rape survivor and international icon Mukhtara Mai was named Woman of the Year in 2005, while Academy Award-winning film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and acid burn survivor Zakia jointly received the award in 2012. Malala This year, Malala was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, however she did not win it. The news came as a shock for most people as no one had anticipated the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons would be honoured – the little-known organisation was not even named in the top possible winners. Malala first rose to prominence with a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling the difficulties of life under the rule of the Taliban, who controlled Swat from 2007 until they were kicked out by the army in 2009.