| Year |
Finalists |
| 2007 |
Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, If It Happens, Ochberg's Orphans, Portraits of a Lady[2] |
| 2008 |
David McCullough: Painting With Words, Downstream, Tongzhi in Love, Viva La Causa [3] |
| 2009 |
Lt. Watada, Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, Woman Rebel[4][5] |
| 2010 |
Born Sweet, Living for 32, One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey[6] |
| 2011 |
In Tahrir Square: 18 Days of Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution, Pipe Dreams, Witness[7] |
| 2012 |
The Education of Mohammad Hussein, ParaÍso, The Perfect Fit[8] |
| 2013 |
Jujitsu-ing Reality, Recollections, SLOMO[9] |
| 2014 |
Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace, The Lion's Mouth Opens, One Child[10] |
| 2015 |
50 Feet from Syria, Minerita, ’My Enemy, My Brother, Starting Point, The Testimony[11] |
| 2016 |
Brillo Box (3 ¢ Off), Close Ties, ’Frame 394, The Mute's House, The Other Side of Home[12] |
| 2017 |
Alone, Kayayo – The Living Shopping Baskets, ’116 Cameras, Ram Dass, Going Home, Ten Meter Tower[13] |
| 2018 |
Los Comandos, My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes, ’63 Boycott, Women of the Gulag, Zion[14] |
| 2019 |
After Maria, Ghosts of Sugar Land, Fire in Paradise, The Nightcrawlers, Stay Close[15] |
| 2020 |
Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa; Call Center Blues; Hysterical Girl; The Speed Cubers; What Would Sophia Loren Do?[16] |
| 2021 |
Águilas, A Broken House, Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis, Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker, Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol, The Facility, Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day, Sophie & the Baron, Takeover, Terror Contagion[17] |
| 2022 |
American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton, Anastasia, Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison, As Far as They Can Run, The Flagmakers, Happiness Is £4 Million, Holding Moses, Nuisance Bear, Shut Up and Paint, 38 at the Garden[18] |
| 2023 |
Bear, Between Earth & Sky, Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games, Camp Courage, Deciding Vote, How We Get Free, If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis, Last Song from Kabul, Oasis, Wings of Dust[19] |
| 2024 |
Chasing Roo, Eternal Father, Keeper, Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World, Once upon a Time in Ukraine, Planetwalker, The Quilters, Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr, A Swim Lesson, Until He’s Back[20][21] |
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