Born in 1923, Ms Kerr moved across Europe with her family to escape Nazi persecution before eventually settling in England.
Accepting the award, Ms Kerr told the Guardian: “When a prize is given for a lifetime’s achievement, age is going to play a part and I may have an unfair advantage. Inevitably the judges must say: ‘She’s 93, she might not be around to give it to next year’, which is acutely unfair to young illustrators and authors in their 80s.”
She paid tribute to the UK for accepting her as a child refugee and praised the BookTrust, for its “fantastic work getting children reading”.
She also thanked the tigers of London zoo that inspired her famous book, “without which I probably wouldn’t be here today,” she said.
