Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking

The Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking is handed out annually at the Creative Arts Emmy Award ceremony since 2005. Entries are reviewed by a jury on the basis of the "filmmaker's expressed vision, compelling power of storytelling, artistry or innovation of craft, and the capacity to inform, transport, impact, enlighten, and create a moving and indelible work that elevates the art of documentary filmmaking." Entrants are ineligible for Outstanding Informational Series or Special and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.^[1]

Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
Awarded for	Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
First award	2005
Currently held by	Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2024)
Website	emmys.com

Winners and nominations

2000s

Year	Program	Producers	Network
2005 (57th) [2]
	Death in Gaza	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Nancy Abraham, supervising producer; James Miller and Saira Shah, producers	HBO
	Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst (American Experience)	Mark Samels and Nick Fraser, executive producers; Robert Stone, producer	PBS
	Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq	John Hoffman, Sheila Nevins and Jane Bornemeier, executive producers; Bill Couturié, produced by	HBO
	With All Deliberate Speed	Steve Carlis, Steve Rosenbaum and Don Baer, executive producers; Peter Gilbert, produced by	Discovery
2006 (58th) [3]
	Baghdad ER	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill and Joseph Feury, produced by	HBO
	Two Days in October (American Experience)	Sally Jo Fifer, executive producer; Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, producers; Lois Vossen, series producer	PBS
	Beslan: Three Days in September	Joe Halderman, produced by; Peter Van Sant, Michael McHugh and Michael Vele, producers	Showtime
	Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company	Nancy Dubuc and Dierdre O'Hearn, executive producers for A&E; Michael Epstein and Jonathan Yellen, produced by	A&E
In the Realms of the Unreal (POV)	Sally Jo Fifer and Cara Mertes, executive producers; Jessica Yu and Susan West, producers	PBS
2007 (59th) [4]
	A Lion in the House (Independent Lens)	Sally Jo Fifer, executive producer; Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, producers; Lois Vossen, series producer	PBS
	When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Samuel D. Pollard and Spike Lee, producers; Jacqueline Glover, supervising producer	HBO
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Stanley Nelson, producer; Sharon Grimberg, series producer	PBS
2008 (60th) [5]
	White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki	Sheila Nevins and Robert Richter, executive producers; Steven Okazaki, producer; Sara Bernstein, supervising producer	HBO
	Oswald's Ghost (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Sharon Grimberg, senior producer; Robert Stone, producer	PBS
	Walt Whitman (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Patrick Long and Jamila Wignot, producers; Mark Zwonitzer, filmmaker
2009 (61st) [6]
	The Alzheimer's Project: "The Memory Loss Tapes"	Sheila Nevins and Maria Shriver, executive producers; John Hoffman, series producer; Shari Cookson and Nick Doob, produced by	HBO
	Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Jacqueline Glover, supervising producer; Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill, produced by	HBO

2010s

Year	Program	Producers	Network
2010 (62nd) [7]
	The Betrayal – Nerakhoon (POV)	Simon Kilmurry and Cara Mertes, executive producers; Ellen Kuras and Flora Fernandez-Marengo, produced by	PBS
	Brick City	Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin, Forest Whitaker and Mala Chapple, executive producers	Sundance
	My Lai (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Barak Goodman], producer	PBS
	Patti Smith: Dream of Life (POV)	Simon Kilmurry and Steven Sebring, executive producers; Margaret Smilow, executive producer/producer
	Pressure Cooker	Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann, executive producers; Jennifer Grausman, producer	BET
	Sergio	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Nancy Abraham, senior producer; Greg Barker, John Battsek and Julie Goldman, produced by	HBO
2011 (63rd) [8]
	Freedom Riders (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Stanley Nelson and Laurens Grant, produced by; Sharon Grimberg, senior producer	PBS
	Gasland	Trish Adlesic, Josh Fox and Molly Gandour, producers	HBO
	The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (POV)	Rick Goldsmith and Judith Ehrlich, producers	PBS
2012 (64th) [9]
	Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (Independent Lens)	Sally Jo Fifer, executive producer; Connie Field, producer; Lois Vossen, series senior producer	PBS
	The Amish (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Sharon Grimberg, senior producer; Callie T. Wiser and David Belton, producers	PBS
	Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Joe Berlinger and Jonathan Silberberg, producers; Nancy Abraham, senior producers	HBO
2013 (65th) [10]
	Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Alex Gibney, Alexandra Johnes, Todd Wider and Jedd Wider, producers; Sara Bernstein, supervising producer	HBO
2014 (66th) [11]
	Life According to Sam	Sheila Nevins, executive producer; Nancy Abraham, senior producer; Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, produced by	HBO
	The Amish: Shunned (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Sharon Grimberg, senior producer; Callie T. Wiser, producer	PBS
	Brave Miss World	Lati Grobman, executive producer; Cecilia Peck, Inbal B. Lessner and Motty Reif, producers	Netflix
	Hillsborough (30 for 30 Soccer Stories)	Connor Schell, John Dahl and John Battsek, executive producers; Daniel Gordon and Deirdre Fenton, producers	ESPN
2015 (67th) [12]
	Citizenfour	Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky, produced by	HBO
	The Great Invisible (Independent Lens)	Margaret Brown, Jason Orans and Julie Goldman, produced by; Lois Vossen, senior series producer	PBS
	Hot Girls Wanted	Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus and Rashida Jones, produced by	Netflix
2016 (68th) [13]
	Cartel Land	Kathryn Bigelow, Molly Thompson and Robert DeBitetto, executive producers; Tom Yellin and Matthew Heineman, producers	A&E
	Jim: The James Foley Story	Peter Kunhardt, Sheila Nevins and Jacqueline Glover, executive producers; Eva Lipman, George Kunhardt and Teddy Kunhardt, produced by	HBO
	The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution	Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen, executive producers; Stanley Nelson and Laurens Grant, produced by	PBS
	The Hunting Ground	Amy Entelis, Vinnie Malhotra and Maria Cuomo Cole, executive producers; Amy Ziering, producer	CNN
	Racing Extinction	Dieter Paulmann and John Hoffman, executive producers; Olivia Ahnemann and Fisher Stevens, produced by	Discovery
	Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom	Lati Grobman and David Dinerstein, executive producers; Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor, produced by	Netflix
2017 (69th) [14]
	LA 92[15]	T. J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay, a film by; Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn, produced by	Nat Geo
	Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds	Sheila Nevins and Brett Ratner, executive producers; Nancy Abraham, senior producer; Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens, produced by	HBO
	O.J.: Made in America	Connor Schell and Libby Geist, executive producers; Tamara Rosenberg and Nina Krstic, producers; Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow, produced by	ESPN
	Oklahoma City (American Experience)	Mark Samels, executive producer; Susan Bellows, senior producer; Barak Goodman and Emily Singer Chapman, produced by	PBS
	The White Helmets	Joanna Natasegara, produced by	Netflix
2018 (70th) [16]
	Strong Island[17]	Joslyn Barnes and Yance Ford, produced by	Netflix
	City of Ghosts	Alex Gibney, Molly Thompson and Stacey Offman, executive producers; Matthew Heineman, produced by	A&E
	Jane	Tim Pastore, executive producer; Brett Morgen, Bryan Burk and James Smith, produced by	Nat Geo
	What Haunts Us	Frank Marshall and Matt Tolmach, executive producers; Paige Goldberg Tolmach and Sarah Gibson, producers	Starz
2019 (71st) [18]
	RBG	Julie Cohen and Betsy West, produced by; Amy Entelis and Courtney Sexton, executive producers	CNN
	The Sentence	Sam Bisbee and Jackie Kelman Bisbee, produced by; Rudy Valdez and Theodora Dunlap, executive producers	HBO
	Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes	Alexis Bloom and Will Cohen, produced by; Molly Thompson and Alex Gibney, executive producers	A&E
	Hale County This Morning, This Evening	RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim, produced by; Lois Vossen, executive producer	PBS
	Three Identical Strangers	Becky Read, produced by; Grace Hughes-Hallett, producer	CNN

2020s

Year	Program	Producers	Network
2020 (72nd) [19]
	The Cave	Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær, produced by; Pernille Rose Grønkjær, Eva Mulvad, Carolyn Berstein, Ryan Harrington and Matt Renner, executive producers	Nat Geo
	Chasing the Moon (American Experience)	Robert Stone, produced by; Ray Rothrock, Daniel Aegerter and Keith Haviland, producers; Susan Bellows, senior producer; Mark Samels, executive producer	PBS
	Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements	Tahria Sheather and Irene Taylor Brodsky, produced by; Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sheila Nevins and Sara Bernstein, executive producers	HBO
	One Child Nation	Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn, produced by; Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen, executive producers	PBS
2021 (73rd) [20]
	76 Days	Hao Wu and Jean Tsien, produced by	Pluto TV
	Dick Johnson Is Dead	Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness, producers; Kirsten Johnson, produced by	Netflix
	Welcome to Chechnya	Alice Henty, David France, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov and Igor Myakotin, produced by	HBO
2022 (74th) [21]
	When Claude Got Shot	Lois Vossen, executive producer; Brad Lichtenstein, Steven Cantor and Jamie Schutz, producers	PBS
	Changing the Game	Clare Tucker and Alex Schmider, produced by	Hulu
	Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches	Henry Louis Gates Jr., Dyllan McGee, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez, executive producers; Oluwaseun Babalola, producer	HBO
2023 (75th) [22]
	The Territory[23]	Alex Pritz, Darren Aronofsky, Sigrid Dyekjær, Will N. Miller, Gabriel Uchida and Lizzie Gillett, produced by; Txai Suruí, executive producer	Nat Geo
	The Accused: Damned or Devoted?	Mohammed Ali Naqvi, produced by/directed by	PBS
	Aftershock	Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee, a film by	Hulu
	Last Flight Home	Ondi Timoner and David Turner, produced by	Paramount+
2024 (76th) [24]
	Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project[25]	Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson and Tommy Oliver, produced by	HBO
	Beyond Utopia (Independent Lens)	Lois Vossen, executive producer; Jana Edelbaum, Rachel Cohen and Sue Mi Terry, producers; Madeleine Gavin, director	PBS
	Stamped from the Beginning	Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Geoff Martz, Mara Brock Akil and Susie Fitzgerald, executive producers; Alisa Payne, Roger Ross Williams and David Teague, producers	Netflix

Total awards by network

• HBO – 10
• PBS – 5
• Nat Geo – 3
• A&E – 1
• CNN – 1
• Netflix – 1
• Pluto - 1