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:
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Winners and nominations 1970s Year Program Episode Nominees Network 1979 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs 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. Scared Straight! Arnold Shapiro Syndicated
1980s Year Program Episode Nominees Network 1980 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs 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. The Body Human: The Body Beautiful Robert E. Fuisz and Louis H. Gorfain CBS 1983 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. 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 ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers "Marshall, Texas" Bill Moyers PBS 1985 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - WritingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. 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 - WritingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. 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 ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. 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 ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. The Mind "Search for the Mind" John Heminway PBS
1990s Year Program Episode Nominees Network 1990 Outstanding Writing in Informational ProgrammingAs 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. American Masters "Broadway Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theater" Steve Lawson PBS 1991 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. 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 ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. No nominee met the benchmark and no award was given. 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 ProgrammingAs 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. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory "America's Folk Religion" Randall Balmer PBS 1994 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs 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." 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 Network2003American Experience"Seabiscuit"Michelle FerrariPBSAmerican Experience "The Murder of Emmett Till"Marcia A. SmithPBS Da Ali G ShowSacha Baron Cohen, Dan Mazer, Anthony Hines, Jamie Glassman and James BobinHBO Journeys with GeorgeAlexandra Pelosi Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives Mark Jonathan Harris2004American Masters"Judy Garland: By Myself"Susan Lacy and Stephen SteptPBS Fred Rogers: America's Favorite NeighborRick SebakPBS JFK: A Presidency RevealedDavid C. TaylorHistoryPandemic: Facing AIDS "Uganda/Thailand"Mark BaileyHBOPenn & Teller: Bullshit! "War on Drugs"Penn Jillette, Teller, Emma Webster, Star Price and Michael GoudeauShowtimeTerry Jones' Medieval Lives "The Peasant"Terry JonesHistory2005 Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack JohnsonGeoffrey C. WardPBS Beyond the Da Vinci CodeThomas Quinn and Rob BlumensteinHistoryBroadway: The American Musical "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'"JoAnn YoungPBS Death in GazaSaira ShahHBOPenn & Teller: Bullshit! "Profanity"Penn Jillette, Teller, Jon Hotchkiss, Star Price and Michael GoudeauShowtime2006 Stardust: The Bette Davis StoryPeter JonesTCMAmerican Masters "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend"Kenneth BowserPBS "Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea"DeWitt Sage How William Shatner Changed the WorldAlan Handel and Julian JonesHistoryPenn & Teller: Bullshit! "Prostitution"Penn Jillette, Teller, Cliff Schoenberg, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau and Star PriceShowtime2007American Masters"Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film"James Sanders and Ric BurnsPBSPenn & Teller: Bullshit! "Wal-Mart"Penn Jillette, Teller, Sheryl Zohn, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau, Star Price, Cliff Schoenberg and David WeissShowtimePlanet Earth "Mountains"Vanessa Berlowitz and Gary ParkerDiscovery Star Wars: The Legacy RevealedSteven Smith, David Comtois and Kevin BurnsHistoryThis American Life "God's Close-Up"Nancy UpdikeShowtime2008The War"Pride of Our Nation (June–August 1944)"Geoffrey C. WardPBSAmerican Experience "Walt Whitman"Mark ZwonitzerPBSIntervention "Caylee"Jeff GroganA&E Life After PeopleDavid de VriesHistoryThis American Life "Escape"Ira GlassShowtime2009 Roman Polanski: Wanted and DesiredJoe Bini, P. G. Morgan and Marina ZenovichHBOAmerican Experience "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer"David GrubinPBSAmerican Masters "Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About"Amanda VaillMake 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America "When I'm Bad, I'm Better — The Groundbreakers"Michael Kantor and Laurence MaslonPenn & Teller: Bullshit! "New Age Medicine"Penn Jillette, Teller, Star Price, Rich Nathanson, Michael Goudeau, David Wechter, Cliff Schoenberg and Sheryl ZohnShowtime
2010s Year Program Episode(s) Nominees Network2010The National Parks: America's Best Idea"The Last Refuge (1890–1915)"Dayton DuncanPBSAmerica: The Story of Us "Division"Jenny Ash and Ed FieldsHistoryAnthony Bourdain: No Reservations "Prague"Anthony BourdainTravel The BuddhaDavid GrubinPBSLife "Challenges of Life"Paul SpillengerDiscovery2011American Experience"Freedom Riders"Stanley Nelson Jr.PBSAnthony Bourdain: No Reservations "Haiti"Anthony BourdainTravel GaslandJosh FoxHBO GettysburgRichard Bedser and Ed FieldsHistoryMoguls & Movie Stars "The Birth of Hollywood"Jon WilkmanTCM2012Prohibition"A Nation of Hypocrites"Geoffrey C. WardPBSAmerican Experience "Clinton"Barak GoodmanPBSAmerican Masters "Johnny Carson: King of Late Night"Peter JonesAnthony Bourdain: No Reservations "Cuba"Anthony BourdainTravel Sesame Street: Growing Hope Against HungerChristine FerraroPBS2013 Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of GodAlex GibneyHBOAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Libya"Anthony BourdainCNNThe Dust Bowl "The Great Plow-Up"Dayton DuncanPBS EthelMark BaileyHBOThe Men Who Built America "A New War Begins"Stephen David, Patrick Reams, David C. White, Keith Palmer, Randy Counsman and Ed FieldsHistory2014Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey"Standing Up in the Milky Way"Ann Druyan and Steven SoterFoxAmerican Experience "JFK"Mark ZwonitzerPBSAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Congo"Anthony BourdainCNNThe World Wars "Trial by Fire"Stephen David, David C. White, John Ealer, Alec Michod, Chelsea Coates, Randy Counsman, Russ McCarroll, Jordan Rosenblum and David SchayeHistoryYears of Living Dangerously "The Surge"Adam BoltShowtime2015 Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of BeliefAlex GibneyHBOAmerican Experience "Last Days in Vietnam"Keven McAlester and Mark BaileyPBSAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Iran"Anthony BourdainCNN Kurt Cobain: Montage of HeckBrett Morgen HBO The Roosevelts: An Intimate History "The Rising Road (1933–1939)"Geoffrey C. WardPBS2016Making a Murderer"Eighteen Years Lost"Laura Ricciardi and Moira DemosNetflixAmerican Experience "Walt Disney"Mark Zwonitzer, Sarah Colt and Tom Jennings PBSAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Borneo"Anthony BourdainCNN Everything Is Copy — Nora Ephron: Scripted & UnscriptedJacob Bernstein HBO Jackie RobinsonDavid McMahon and Sarah BurnsPBS2017 13th Ava DuVernay and Spencer Averick Netflix Amanda Knox Matthew Hamachek and Brian McGinn Netflix Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Houston" Anthony Bourdain CNN The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years Mark Monroe Hulu Bill Nye Saves the World "The Sexual Spectrum" Prashanth Venkataramanujam, CeCe Pleasants, Sanden Totten, Mike Drucker and Flora LichtmanNetflix2018 Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Southern Italy" Anthony Bourdain CNN The Defiant Ones "Episode 1" Allen Hughes, Lasse Järvi and Doug Pray HBO Icarus Bryan Fogel, Mark Monroe and Jon Bertain Netflix Jane Brett Morgen Nat Geo Mister Rogers: It's You I Like JoAnn Young PBS The Vietnam War "Episode 8: The History of the World (April 1969-May 1970)" Geoffrey C. Ward2019 Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Kenya" Anthony Bourdain CNN The Case Against Adnan Syed "Forbidden Love" Amy J. Berg HBO Fyre Fraud Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Hulu Hostile Planet "Grasslands" Bruce Kennedy Nat Geo Our Planet "Jungles" Huw Cordey, Keith Scholey, Alastair Fothergill and David Attenborough Netflix Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men "Episode 1" Paul Greenhouse, Sacha Jenkins and Peter J. Scalettar Showtime
2020s