The art style is just great. Same goes for the music! This is something I'd expect to see in a release-quality game. Seriously the game looks and sounds just brilliant! And if I had to select one thing that was just a cherry on top- Noah getting smitten with a visible skeleton was just *chef's kiss*.
The gameplay. I didn't finish the game. Turned out to be just a bit too difficult for me (I blame the late hour for my lack of focus). I figure I didn't drop the animals in the water enough. I know the theme was "you can't save them all", but with Noah I'd expect it's because they didn't make it to the ark, not "your color won't net me a bonus, off you go!". Although now I wonder if some offshoot of Christianity doesn't explain the lack of wooly mammoths that way :)
As for the theme. You played it straightforward, but it worked!
In the end- congrats on that graphics prize, pretty sure it's already yours :)