Mark Rutherford, owner of Wild River Guide Company based on Vashon, and daughter Kate Rutherford won the Best Story award for a short fly fishing film.

The short film titled “Kate & Mark” won the award at the Drake Annual Fly Fishing Film Contest Sept. 16 in Denver.

Produced by Beattie Outdoor Productions, the film is part of a documentary about the Rutherfords’ fly fishing trips on the last unexplored rivers in Alaska.

Beattie Outdoor Productions, based in Colorado, specializes in creation of high quality, professional and creative outdoor marketing media, according to information on its Web site www.fishthra.com.

The company has in recent years filmed the first descent of the Goodnews River Tributary on the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and it has filmed in Kenya, Eastern Europe and the Amazon.

The longer, uncompleted film about the Goodnews adventure tells the story of a father’s 34-year exploration of Alaskan fly fishing while raising Kate and Alex Rutherford on a wilderness homestead.

Growing up traveling by dog sled, Kate, now a 26-year-old professional rock climber, and Alex Rutherford, a 23-year-old Hawaiian surfer, have been guiding on Alaskan wilderness salmon and trout rivers since they were teenagers.

The short film “Kate & Mark” can be seen in the video awards section at the Drake Fly Fishing Magazine online at http://www.drakemag.com/content/view/14/116/.

Many Islanders have taken a wilderness trip with the Rutherfords. Howard Koenig of Keller Williams spent a week in July last year, and Matthew Grunwald, founder of Vashon Fly Fishers, said that he counts very highly his experience with Rutherford’s guiding skills.

The Rutherford family has run a wilderness guide business in Alaska since 1997.