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OKC Award Goes To Pakistani Girl Shot By Taliban

Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum

A human rights activist from Pakistan who founded an all-girls school and his 15-year-old daughter who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban have been honored by the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.

Memorial officials presented the 2013 Reflections of Hope Award to Ziauddin Yousafzai and Malala Yousafzai on Monday.

In accepting the award on behalf of himself and his daughter, Ziauddin Yousafzai decried violence that he says Taliban militants have created in Pakistan. He says tragedies like the Boston Marathon bombing happen in his country every day.

"He and his daughter are global inspirations," says State Sen. David Holt (R-Oklahoma City) who attended the ceremony. "Today's event is a perfect illustration of the Memorial's ongoing mission. Its message of nonviolence remains relevant and powerful."

Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in an assassination attempt that drew attention worldwide to the struggle for women's rights in her homeland.

The memorial honors the 168 victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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