BestDocumentary

2002--Bowling for Columbine
2001--
2000--Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of Kindertransport, Mark Jonathan Harris, Deborah Oppenheimer (feature); Big Mama, Tracy Seretean (short)
1999--One Day In September, Kevin McDonald (feature); King Gimp, Susan Hanna Hadary (short)
1998--The Last Days, James Moll, Ken Lipper (feature); The Personals: Improvisations on Romance in the Golden Years, Keiko Ibi (short)
1997--The Long Way Home, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Richard Trank (feature); A Story of Healing, Donna Dewey, Carol Pasternak (short)
1996--When We Were Kings, Leon Gast, David Sonenburg (feature); Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien, Jessica Yu (short)
1995--Anne Frank Remembered, Jon Blair (feature); One Survivor Remembers, Kary Antholis (short)
1994--Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, Frieda Lee Mock, Terry Sanders (feature); A Time for Justice, Charles Guggenheim (short)
1993--I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School, Susan Raymond and Alan Raymond (feature); Defending Our Lives, Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich (short)
1992--The Panama Deception, Barbara Trent and David Kaspar (feature); Educating Peter, Thomas C. Goodwin, Gerardine Wurtzburg (short)
1991--In the Shadow of the Stars, Allie Light, Irving Saraf (feature); Deadly Deception: General Electric--Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment, Debra Chasnoff (short)
1990--American Dream, Barbara Kopple, Arthur Cohn (feature); Days of Waiting, Steven Okazaki (short)
1989--Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, Robert Epstein, Bill Couturie, (feature); The Johnstown Flood, Charles Guggenheim (short)
1988--Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, Marcel Ophuls (feature); You Don't Have to Die, William Guttentag, Malcom Clarke (short)
1987--The Ten Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table, Aviva Slesin (feature); Young at Heart, Sue Marx, Pamela Conn (short)
1986--Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got, Brigette Berman (feature); Women: For America, For the World, Vivienne Verdon-Roe (short)
1985--Broken Rainbow, Maria Florio, Victoria Mudd (feature); Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements, David Goodman (short)
1984--The Times of Harvey Milk, Robert Epstein, Richard Schmiechen (feature); The Stone Carvers, Marjorie Hunt, Paul Wagner (short)
1983--He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin', Emile Ardolino (feature); Flamenco, Cynthia Scott; Adam Symansky (short)
1982--Just Another Missing, Kid John Zaritsky (feature); If You Love This Planet, Edward Le Lorrain; Terri Nash (short)
1981--Genocide, Arnold Schwartzman; Rabbi Marvin Hier (feature); Close Harmony, Nigel Noble (short)
1980--From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, Murray Lerner (feature); Karl Hess: Toward Liberty, Roland Halle; Peter Laudue (short)
1979--Best Boy, Ira Wohl (feature); Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist, Saul J. Turell (short)
1978--Scared Straight!, Arnold Shapiro (feature); The Flight of the Gossamer Condor, Jaqueline Phillips Shedd; Ben Shedd (short)
1977--Who Are the Debolts? and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, John Korty, Dan McCann Warren L. Lockhart (feature); Gravity is My Enemy, John Joseph; Jan Stussy (short)
1976--Harlan County, U.S.A., Barbara Kopple (feature); Number Our Days, Lynne Littman (short)
1975--The Man Who Skied Down Everest, F.R. Crawley, James Hager Dale Hartleben (feature); The End of the Game, Claire Wilbur; Robin Lehman (short)
1974--Hearts and Minds, Peter Davis; Bert Schneider (feature); Don't, Robin Lehman (short)
1973--The Great American Cowboy, Keith Merrill (feature); Princeton: A Search for Answers, Julian Krainin and DeWitt L. Sage Jr. (short)
1972--Marjoe, Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan (feature); This Tiny World, Charles and Martina van der Linden Hugenot (short)
1971--The Hellstrom Chronicle, Walon Green (feature); Sentinels of Silence, Manuel Arango; Robert Amram (short)
1970--Woodstock, Bob Maurice (feature); Interviews with My Lai Veterans, Joseph Strick (short)
1969--Arthur Rubenstein, The Love of Life, Bernard Chevry (feature); Czechoslovakia 1968, Denis Sanders; Robert M. Fresco (short)
1968--Journey into Self, Bill McGaw (feature); Why Man Creates, Saul Bass (short)
1967--The Anderson Platoon, Pierre Schoendorffer (feature); The Redwoods, Mark Harris; Trevor Greenwood (short)
1966--The War Game, Peter Watkins (feature); A Year Toward Tomorrow, Edmond A. Levy (short)
1965--The Eleanor Roosevelt Story, Sidney Glazier (feature); To Be Alive!, Francis Thompson (short)
1964--Jaques-Yves Cousteau's World Without Sun, Jaques-Yves Cousteau (feature); Nine From Little Rock, Charles Guggenheim (short)
1963--Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel With the World, Robert Hughes (feature); Chagall, Simon Schriffrin (short)
1962--Black Fox, Louis Clyde Stoumen (feature); Dylan Thomas, Jack Howells (short)
1961--Le Ciel et la Boue (Sky Above and Mud Beneath), Arthur Cohn Rene Lafuite (feature); Project Hope, Frank P. Bibas (short)
1960--The Horse with the Flying Tail, Larry Lansburgh (feature); Giuseppina, James Hill (short)
1959--Serengeti Shall Not Die, Bernhard Grzimek (feature); Glass, Bert Haanstra (short)
1958--White Wilderness, Ben Sharpsteen (feature); Ama Girls, Ben Sharpsteen (short)
1957--Albert Schweitzer, Jerome Hill (feature); (no shorts nominated)
1956--The Silent World, Jaques-Yves Cousteau (feature); The True Story of the Civil War, Louis Clyde Stoumen (short)
1955--Helen Keller in Her Story, Nancy Hamilton (feature); Men Against the Arctic, Walt Disney (short)
1954--The Vanishing Prairie, Walt Disney (feature); Thursday's Children, World Wide Pictures; Morse Films (short)
1953--The Living Desert, Walt Disney (feature); The Alaskan Eskimo, Walt Disney (short)
1952--The Sea Around Us, Irwin Allen (feature); Neighbors, Norman McLaren (short)
1951--Kon-Tiki, Olle Nordemar (feature); Benji, Fred Zinnemann (short)
1950--The Titan: Story of Michelangelo, Robert Snyder (feature); Why Korea?, Edmund Reek (short)
1949--Daybreak in Udi, Crown Film Unit (feature); A Chance to Live, Richard de Rochemont (short)
1948--The Secret Land, Orville O. Dull (feature); Toward Independence, United States Army (short)
1947--Design for Death, Theron Warth; Richard O. Fleischer (feature); First Steps, United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information (short)
1946--Seeds of Destiny, United States Department of War (short); (no features nominated)
1945--The True Glory, The Governments of Great Britian and the United States (feature); Hitler Lives?, Gordon Hollingshead (short)
1944--The Fighting Lady, 20th Century Fox (feature); With the Marines at Tarawa, U.S. Marine Corps (short)
1943--Desert Victory, 20th Century Fox (feature); December 7th, U.S. Office of Strategic Services Field Photographic Bureau (short)
1942--The Battle of Midway, 20th Century Fox; Kokoda Front Line!, Australian News & Information Bureau; Moscow Strikes Back, Republic; Prelude to War, U.S. Army Special Services
1941--Churchill's Island, National Film Board of Canada (short)