The Primetime Emmy Award for Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program is awarded to one television documentary or nonfiction series each year.
Prior to 2006, nonfiction and reality programs competed together until the Outstanding Picture Editing for Reality Programming category was created.
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 Nominee(s) Network 1977 Special Classification of Outstanding Individual AchievementAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. NBC: The First Fifty Years (The Big Event) Clay Cassell, George Pitts NBC Walter Balderson, Allen Brewster, Jerry Burling, Chuck Droege, Ron Fleury, William Lorenz, Manuel Martinez, Bob Roethle, Mike Welch Life Goes to the Movies (The Big Event) Peter C. Johnson, Robert K. Lambert NBC 1978 Special Classification of Outstanding Individual AchievementAs 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. Oscar Presents: The War Movies and John Wayne William T. Cartwright, Jeffrey Weston ABC 1979 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. Scared Straight! Robert Niemack 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 Body Human: The Body Beautiful Robert Eisenhardt, Jane Kurson, Hank O'Karma CBS The Nile: The Cousteau Odyssey Henri Colpi, John Soh PBS Outstanding Individual Achievement - Special ClassAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. Operation: Lifeline "Dr. James 'Red' Duke, Trauma Surgeon" Geof Bartz NBC 1981 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. Cosmos "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean" Roy Stewart PBS
1990s Year Program Episode Nominees Network 1992 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse Michael Greer, Jay Miracle Showtime 1993 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. Earth and the American Dream Gary Weimberg HBO Mysteries Underground (National Geographic) Barry Nye PBS Alive: The Miracle of the Andes Perry Schaffer CBS 1994 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.In 2020, the TV Academy rescinded a win in this category for the Disney Channel special George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin, edited by Catherine Shields. 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." But... Seriously Stuart Bass Showtime The Who's Tommy: An Amazing Journey Allyson C. Johnson Disney 1995 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. A Century of Women Sue Clarke, Craig A. Colton, Michael Mayhew, Judy Reidel TBS Moon Shot Aaron Fischer, Jim Ohm, Bob Sarles, Amy Young One Survivor Remembers Lawrence Silk HBO 30 Years of National Geographic Specials Barry Nye, Nicholas Noxon NBC 1996 Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational ProgrammingAs a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. Survivors of the Holocaust Allan Holzman TBS American Experience "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" Ken Eluto PBS The Beatles Anthology "Part 2" Andy Matthews ABC The Celluloid Closet Jeffrey Friedman and Arnold Glassman HBO The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Arnold Glassman TNT Hollywood's Amazing Animal Actors Michael Sachs TBS 1998 As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. No nominee met the benchmark and no award was given. Assassinated: The Last Days of Kennedy & King Michael Bloecher and William Haugse TBS 4 Little Girls Sam Pollard HBO Frank Capra's American Dream Arnold Glassman AMC National Geographic Special: America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Goodbye Leonard Feinstein NBC Trauma: Life in the E.R. "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" Amanda Zinoman TLC Vietnam POWs: Stories of Survival Mike Harvey and Graham Knight Discovery 1999 The Farm: Angola, USA Mona Davis and Mary Manhardt A&E Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth Geof Bartz and Robert B. Weide HBO American Masters "Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note" Deborah Peretz PBS Biography "The Rat Pack" Luke Sacher A&E Frank Lloyd Wright Tricia Reidy PBS
2000s Year Program Episode Nominees Network 2000 New York: A Documentary Film "Cosmopolis 1919-1931" Li-Shin Yu and Nina Schulman PBS Raising the Mammoth Emmanuel Mairesse Discovery The Real World: Hawaii "Glass Houses" Mark Raudonis MTV Walking with Dinosaurs Andrew Wilks and Britt Sjoerdsma Discovery 2001 Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen Charlton McMillan HBO Dwarfs: Not a Fairy Tale Geof BartzHBO Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks Sam Pollard Jazz "Dedicated to Chaos" Paul Barnes and Erik Ewers PBS Survivor "Trial by Fire" Brian Barefoot, Jonathon Braun, Jeannette Christensen, Mitchell Danton, Sean Foley, Claudia Hoover, Ivan Ladizinsky, Bob Mathews, Craig Serling, Chris Simpson and Rod C. Spence CBS 2002 In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01 Geof Bartz and Paula Heredia HBOAmerica Undercover "Small Town Ecstasy" Mark BaumHBO "Southern Comfort" Kate Davis The Blue Planet "Ocean World" Martin Elsbury Discovery 9/11 Richard Barber, Michael J. Maloy, Jason Schmidt, Bruce Spiegel and Mead Stone CBS Survivor "Two Peas in a Pod" Lane Baker, Brian Barefoot, Jonathon Braun, Brian Catalina, Jeannette Christensen, David H. Cutler, Sean Foley, Jerry U. Frizell, Ivan Ladizinsky, Bob Mathews, Craig Serling, Chris Simpson and Rod C. Spence CBS 2003 Journeys with George Aaron Lubarsky HBOAmerican Masters "Daughter from Danang" Kim RobertsPBS "Seabiscuit" Toby Shimin Expedition: Bismarck Chris Angel, Calli Cerami, Andre Gelhaar, Matt Kregor and Fiona Wight Discovery Survivor "More Than Meats the Eye" Lane Baker, Brian Barefoot, Jonathon Braun, David H. Cutler, Sean Foley, Jerry U. Frizell, David Handman, Ivan Ladizinsky, Bob Mathews, Chris Simpson, James M. Smith and Rod C. Spence CBS 2004 American Masters "Judy Garland: By Myself" Kate Hirson, Kristen Huntley and Deborah Peretz PBS The Amazing Race "I Could Never Have Been Prepared for What I'm Looking at Right Now" Sharmila Ariathurai, Andrew Frank, Paul Frazier, Julian Gomez, Eric Johannsen, Thomas McGah, Joubin Mortazavi, Paul C. Nielsen, Jason Pedroza, Craig Serling, Hudson H. Smith III and Eric Van Wagenen CBS The Apprentice "DNA, Heads and the Undead Kitty" Jonathon Braun, David H. Cutler, Glen Ebesu, Andrew Ecker, Stephen R. Frederick, Scott Gamzon, David Michael Maurer, Jamie Nelsen, Dave Oliver, Jason Pedroza, Jim Ruxin, Claire Scanlon, Chris Simpson, Jason Steinberg and Janet Swanson NBCSurvivor "Shark Attack" H.A. Arnarson, Tim Atzinger, Lane Baker, Brian Barefoot, Paul J. Coyne, Mitchell Danton, Sean Foley, Jerry U. Frizell, Michael Greer, David Handman, Bryan Horne, Ricky Kreitman, Ivan Ladizinsky, Bob Mathews, Evan Mediuch, Joubin Mortazavi, Geoffrey Rowland and James M. SmithCBS "Swimming with Sharks" Lane Baker, Brian Barefoot, Sean Foley, Jerry U. Frizell, Mike Greer, David Handman, Bryan Horne, Ivan Ladizinsky, Bob Mathews, Evan Mediuch, Joubin Mortazavi, James M. Smith and Eric Van Wagenen 2005 The Amazing Race "We're Moving Up the Food Chain" "Mighty" Friedman, Eric Goldfarb, Julian Gomez, Andrew Kozar, Paul C. Nielsen, Jacob Parsons, Jeff Runyan and Eric Wilson CBS The Apprentice "Lights! Camera! Transaction!" Lane Baker, Peregrine Beckman, Jonathan Braun, Buzz Chatman, David H. Cutler, Glen Ebesu, Andrew Ecker, Steve Escobar, Stephen R. Frederick, Scott Gamzon, Pamela Malouf, David Michael Maurer, Dave Oliver, Jason Pedroza, Dean Permé, Jim Ruxin, Edward Salier, Claire Scanlon, Plowden Schumacher, Chris Simpson, Michael T. Smith, Jason Steinberg, Janet Swanson and Eric Van WagenenNBC The Contender "The Hangman's Noose" H.A. Arnarson, Chad Bertalotto, Andrew Bolhuis, Conroy Browne, Willie Castro, Nicholas Don Vito, Sean Foley, Andrew Frank, Julius Ramsay, Rich Remis, J.D. Sievertson, Hudson H. Smith III, Steven Uhlenberg and Eric Van WagenenSurvivor "Culture Shock and Violent Storms" Tim Atzinger, Tracy Bacenas, Brian Barefoot, Mitchell Danton, Eric Gardner, Michael Greer, David Handman, Frederick Hawthorne, Bryan Horne, Ricky Kreitman, Ivan Ladizinsky, Robert D. Mathews, Evan Mediuch, Joubin Mortazavi and James M. SmithCBS "This Has Never Happened Before" Tim Atzinger, Tracy Bacenas, Brian Barefoot, Mitchell Danton, Richard B. Fox, Jerry U. Frizell, Eric Gardner, Michael Greer, David Handman, Frederick Hawthorne, Ricky Kreitman, Ivan Ladizinsky, Robert D. Mathews, Evan Mediuch, Joubin Mortazavi and James M. Smith 2006 Rome: Engineering an Empire Jennifer P. Honn History AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Barry A. O'Brien, Debra Light and Tim Preston CBSAmerican Masters "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend" Steven WechslerPBS "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" David Tedeschi Baghdad ER Carrie Goldman and Patrick McMahon HBO Penn & Teller: Bullshit! "Prostitution" Steven Uhlenberg Showtime 2007 When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts Sam Pollard, Geeta Gandbhir and Nancy Novack HBO AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies Barry A. O'Brien, Debra Light and Tim Preston CBS Deadliest Catch "The Unforgiving Sea" Kelly Coskran and Ed Greene Discovery Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Sari Gilman HBO Meerkat Manor "Family Affair" Renoir Tuahene Animal Planet Planet Earth "Mountains" Andy Netley Discovery 2008 Autism: The Musical Kim Roberts HBO AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Barry A. O'Brien, Debra Light and Marlise Malkames CBS Deadliest Catch "No Mercy" Kelly Coskran and Rob Butler Discovery This American Life "Escape" Joe Beshenkovsky ShowtimeThe War "FUBAR" Paul BarnesPBS "Pride of Our Nation" Tricia Reidy 2009 This American Life "John Smith" Joe Beshenkovsky Showtime Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations "Laos" Jesse Fisher Travel Deadliest Catch "Stay Focused or Die" Kelly Coskran and Josh Earl Discovery 102 Minutes That Changed America Seth Skundrick History Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired Joe Bini HBO
2010s