On the afternoon of September 19, the 2025 Award Ceremony and the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education was held in Beijing. Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping and a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, attended the event together with UNESCO Director-General Azoulay and both delivered speeches.

Peng Liyuan noted that this year marks the tenth anniversary of UNESCO's Prize for Girls' and Women's Education. Over the past 10 years, award recipients from around the world and visionaries from all sectors have used education to help girls and women adapt to changing social developments and achieve personal growth. The concept of empowering women through education is increasingly taking root, and millions of girls and women have gained the confidence and ability to shape their own lives and pursue their dreams. This is precisely what the Prize for Girls' and Women's Education represents. Currently, human society is entering the age of intelligence. In this process, we must prioritize women's science education, helping more women master scientific knowledge, learn to apply new technologies, and enhance their innovation capabilities, striving to enable women everywhere to embrace the technological revolution and create fulfilling lives. China has always placed great importance on developing women's science education and looks forward to continuously deepening cooperation with UNESCO and all relevant parties to comprehensively strengthen capacity building in women's science education and jointly enhance the quality of women's science education.

In her remarks, Azoulay thanked the Chinese government for its consistent and valuable support to UNESCO, highly commended Peng Liyuan's outstanding contributions to advancing global girls' and women's education, and expressed UNESCO's commitment to further deepening exchanges and cooperation with China to achieve even greater progress in global girls' and women's education.

At the award ceremony, Peng Liyuan and Azoulay jointly presented awards to representatives of the winning projects from Kenya and Lebanon. Representatives of the award-winning projects and Chinese women scientists delivered speeches respectively.

Before the award ceremony, Peng Liyuan met with Azoulay, and they exchanged views on promoting the development of education for girls and women worldwide. After the meeting, Peng Liyuan and Azoulay took a group photo with representatives of award-winning projects from previous years and visited a photo exhibition showcasing award-winning projects to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Prize for Girls' and Women's Education.

Approximately 300 people attended the event, including representatives from UN system agencies in Beijing, diplomatic envoys from relevant countries to China, Chinese and foreign faculty and student representatives, and representatives from the education sector.

Since China and UNESCO jointly established the Prize for Girls' and Women's Education in 2015, 20 projects from 19 countries have won the award.