Pakistan - Girl Shot by Taliban Wins a Rights Award - NYTimes.com The Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban assassination attempt received a human rights award on Friday. The girl, Malala Yousafzai, an education activist, was shot as she traveled to school in northwest Pakistan last October. On Friday in London she was declared the winner of the Anna Politkovskaya Award. Ms. Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and Kremlin critic who worked to uncover abuses in Chechnya, was killed in 2006. The award is given annually by the group RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War) to a woman who defends human rights. The group said Ms. Yousafzai, 16, had been chosen "for her courage to speak out when nobody else dared," for giving a voice to many women and girls and for promoting education for girls.