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American teen wins prestigious International Children's Peace Prize for helping Indian orphans

Associated Press
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Eighteen-year-old American Neha Gupta receives the KidsRights Children's Peace Prize from South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, left, in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Gupta started her own organization 'Empower Orphans' at the mere age of nine. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

Eighteen-year-old American Neha Gupta receives the KidsRights Children's Peace Prize from South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, left, in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Gupta started her own organization 'Empower Orphans' at the mere age of nine. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

Indian children's rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi gestures when speeching during the KidsRights Children's Peace Prize award ceremony in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

An American teenager has won a prestigious international prize for her charitable work to help orphans in India and other vulnerable children.

Neha Gupta, an 18-year-old of Indian descent from Philadelphia, was awarded the International Children's Peace Prize Tuesday by Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu at a ceremony in The Hague.

She was honored for setting up a foundation called Empower Orphans when she was just 9 after visiting an orphanage in India. The foundation has since helped thousands of children.

Marc Dullaert, founder of children's rights organization KidsRights, says Gupta, "discovered at a young age that it is possible to take action as a child and help vulnerable children."

The winner of last year's Children's Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai, went on to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize.