Star-packed: Malala steals show at Glamour awards

There was a flamboyant pop star; a legendary singer; a TV star, some supermodels, and one of the world’s most powerful philanthropists. Even a former secretary of state who may soon be running for president.

But of the 13 prominent women who appeared onstage Monday night at the Glamour Women of the Year awards in New York, no one received more acclaim and adoration than the teenager whom no one had heard of little more than a year ago — 16-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai.

“I believe the gun has no power because a gun can only kill,” she said. “But a pen can give life.”

It wasn’t just the crowd that was taken with Malala; her fellow honourees referred to her often as they took the stage, and the night’s most flamboyant honouree, Lady Gaga, said she wished this month’s Glamour magazine cover, which features her, had been devoted to Malala instead.

“If I could forfeit my Glamour cover I would give it to Malala,” she said. Since 1980, each autumn the American magazine organises the Glamour Women of the Year Awards which recognise female trailblazers and game changers who shape the year. The magazine’s editor-in-chief earlier wrote, “I am proud to announce that Malala, champion of education as a tool of empowerment for girls around the world, is one of 2013’s Glamour Women of the Year.”

Honourees

Lady Gaga

Gabby Giffords & Mark Kelly

Catherine Martin

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2013.