Ashok Dyalchand, a long-time campaigner against child marriage in India, was on Thursday named winner of the World's Children's Prize, sometimes called the Children's Nobel Prize.
Dyalchand received 350,000 kronor (36,300 dollars) to be used by his organization, the Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP), that since 1975 has helped about 50,000 girls in 500 villages to learn about their rights and to receive education on life skills and raise their status, organizers said.
In India, an estimated 15,600 girls are subjected to child marriage daily, they added.
Two honorary award winners each received 18,000 dollars.
Spes Nihangaza of Burundi was honoured for her 25-year-long effort to help children orphaned by AIDS or by the civil war. Along with her sister, she set up the organization FVS Amade, which runs a boarding school, as well as a centre for street children and clinics.
Guylande Mesadieu of Haiti was cited for her efforts to help slave children, street children and children in prison through the organization Zanmi Timoun, Children's Friend.
Former winners of the prize include teen education activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan.
The award was established in 2000 by the Swedish non-governmental organization Children's World.
Patrons of the prize include Sweden's Queen Silvia, archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Malala.
