Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program |
Country | United States |
Presented by | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
Currently held by | Conan O'Brien Must Go (2024) |
Website | emmys |
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program is awarded to one television documentary or nonfiction series each year.
In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which are listed in alphabetical order. The years given are those in which the ceremonies took place:
Winners and nominations
1970s
Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
Scared Straight! | Arnold Shapiro | Syndicated |
1980s
Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
The Body Human: The Body Beautiful | Robert E. Fuisz and Louis H. Gorfain | CBS | ||
1983 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
The Body Human: The Living Code | Robert E. Fuisz and Louis H. Gorfain | CBS | ||
I, Leonardo: A Journey of the Mind | Chandler Cowles | CBS | ||
1984 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers | "Marshall, Texas" | Bill Moyers | PBS | |
1985 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing | |||
Heritage: Civilization and the Jews | "The Crucible of Europe" | Howard Enders, John G. Fox, Michael Joseloff and Marc Siegel | PBS | |
"Out of the Ashes" | Brian Winston | |||
Heritage: Civilization and the Jews | "Roads from the Ghetto" | John G. Fox and Eugene Marner | PBS | |
The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth | David Attenborough | |||
1987 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing | |||
The Story of English | "A Muse of Fire" | Robert MacNeil and Robert McCrum | PBS | |
American Masters | "Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day" | John Jeremy | PBS | |
1988 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
American Masters | "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow" | Kevin Brownlow and David Gill | PBS | |
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam | Bill Couturié and Richard Dewhurst | HBO | ||
American Masters | "The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table" | Peter Foges and Mary Jo Kaplan | PBS | |
1989 | Outstanding Writing in Informational Programming | |||
The Mind | "Search for the Mind" | John Heminway | PBS |
1990s
Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Outstanding Writing in Informational Programming | |||
American Masters | "Broadway Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theater" | Steve Lawson | PBS | |
1991 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
American Masters | "Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer" | Todd McCarthy | PBS | |
The Civil War | "The Better Angels of Our Nature" | Ric Burns, Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward | ||
1992 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse | Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper | Showtime | ||
Losing It All: The Reality of Alzheimer's Disease | Michael Mierendorf | HBO | ||
1993 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory | "America's Folk Religion" | Randall Balmer | PBS | |
1994 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming | |||
The Legend of Billy the Kid | Todd Robinson | Disney | ||
Reflections on Elephants | Dereck Joubert | PBS | ||
The Untold West | "The Black West" | Dennis Watlington | TBS |
2000s
Year | Program | Episode(s) | Nominees | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003 |
American Experience | "Seabiscuit" | Michelle Ferrari | PBS |
American Experience | "The Murder of Emmett Till" | Marcia A. Smith | PBS | |
Da Ali G Show | Sacha Baron Cohen, Dan Mazer, Anthony Hines, Jamie Glassman and James Bobin | HBO | ||
Journeys with George | Alexandra Pelosi | |||
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives | Mark Jonathan Harris | |||
2004 |
American Masters | "Judy Garland: By Myself" | Susan Lacy and Stephen Stept | PBS |
Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor | Rick Sebak | PBS | ||
JFK: A Presidency Revealed | David C. Taylor | History | ||
Pandemic: Facing AIDS | "Uganda/Thailand" | Mark Bailey | HBO | |
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "War on Drugs" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Emma Webster, Star Price and Michael Goudeau | Showtime | |
Terry Jones' Medieval Lives | "The Peasant" | Terry Jones | History | |
2005 |
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson | Geoffrey C. Ward | PBS | |
Beyond the Da Vinci Code | Thomas Quinn and Rob Blumenstein | History | ||
Broadway: The American Musical | "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" | JoAnn Young | PBS | |
Death in Gaza | Saira Shah | HBO | ||
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "Profanity" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Jon Hotchkiss, Star Price and Michael Goudeau | Showtime | |
2006 |
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story | Peter Jones | TCM | |
American Masters | "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend" | Kenneth Bowser | PBS | |
"Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea" | DeWitt Sage | |||
How William Shatner Changed the World | Alan Handel and Julian Jones | History | ||
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "Prostitution" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Cliff Schoenberg, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau and Star Price | Showtime | |
2007 |
American Masters | "Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film" | James Sanders and Ric Burns | PBS |
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "Wal-Mart" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Sheryl Zohn, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau, Star Price, Cliff Schoenberg and David Weiss | Showtime | |
Planet Earth | "Mountains" | Vanessa Berlowitz and Gary Parker | Discovery | |
Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed | Steven Smith, David Comtois and Kevin Burns | History | ||
This American Life | "God's Close-Up" | Nancy Updike | Showtime | |
2008 |
The War | "Pride of Our Nation (June–August 1944)" | Geoffrey C. Ward | PBS |
American Experience | "Walt Whitman" | Mark Zwonitzer | PBS | |
Intervention | "Caylee" | Jeff Grogan | A&E | |
Life After People | David de Vries | History | ||
This American Life | "Escape" | Ira Glass | Showtime | |
2009 |
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired | Joe Bini, P. G. Morgan and Marina Zenovich | HBO | |
American Experience | "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer" | David Grubin | PBS | |
American Masters | "Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About" | Amanda Vaill | ||
Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America | "When I'm Bad, I'm Better — The Groundbreakers" | Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon | ||
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "New Age Medicine" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Star Price, Rich Nathanson, Michael Goudeau, David Wechter, Cliff Schoenberg and Sheryl Zohn | Showtime |
2010s
2020s
Programs with multiple awards
|
|
Individuals with multiple awards
|
|
Programs with multiple nominations
|
|
|
Notes
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. The nominee did not meet the benchmark and no award was given.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. The nominee did not meet the benchmark and no award was given.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. The nominee did not meet the benchmark and no award was given.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. No nominee met the benchmark and no award was given.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. The nominee did not meet the benchmark and no award was given.
- As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.
- In 2020, the TV Academy rescinded a win in this category for the Disney Channel special George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin, written by George Stevens Jr. The program was a re-edit of the 1985 BBC documentary D-Day to Berlin, in violation of a rule that "a program that is a foreign acquisition without benefit of a domestic co-production cannot be re-introduced into eligibility in a current awards year, even though it may have been modified with new footage, sound track, musical score, etc."
References
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Television Academy. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- Feinberg, Scott (March 12, 2020). "TV Academy Rescinds Several of George Stevens Jr.'s Emmy Noms, Awards (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Program | |
---|---|
1979–1994 |
|
2003–present |
|
Between 1979–1994, the category was a juried award. |