List of awards and nominations received by Spike Lee

Spike Lee awards and nominations

Lee at the Cannes Film Festival
Awards and nominations Award Wins Nominations Academy Awards 1 5 BAFTA Awards 1 3 Emmy Awards 4 8 Grammy Awards 0 1 Golden Globes 0 3 Peabody Awards 2 2
Totals [a]
Wins	28
Nominations	79
Note Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They acknowledge several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.

The following is a list of awards and nominations received Spike Lee.

Spike Lee is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing racial dramas, historical epics, thrillers, war dramas, social satires and documentary films. Lee has received various awards including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, four Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and three Critics' Choice Movie Awards.

Lee started his career with an early student film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) which earned the Student Academy Award. He directed his seminal breakthrough work, the racial drama Do the Right Thing (1989) which received acclaim as well nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as well as two Golden Globe Awards (for Best Director and Best Screenplay).

He directed the historical documentary film 4 Little Girls (1997) which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. With the historical comedy-drama BlacKkKlansman (2018), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, his first competitive win, as well as nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.

He the HBO documentary miniseries When the Levees Broke (2006) for which he received a Peabody Award as well as two Primetime Emmy Awards (for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking). He directed another HBO documentary, If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010) for which he won his second Peabody Award. He directed the HBO David Byrne concert film American Utopia (2020) for which he was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Film.

Over his career he has received numerous honors including the Special BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences's Honorary Academy Award in 2015, the Directors Guild of America's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, and the American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governor's Award in 2024. He was presented with the National Medal of Arts from President Joe Biden in 2023.

Major Associations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1983	Student Academy Award	Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads	Won	[1]
1989	Best Original Screenplay	Do the Right Thing	Nominated	[2]
1997	Best Documentary Feature	4 Little Girls	Nominated	[3]
2015	Honorary Academy Award		Recipient	[4]
2018	Best Picture	BlacKkKlansman	Nominated	[5]
	Best Director		Nominated
	Best Adapted Screenplay		Won

BAFTA Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
British Academy Film Awards
2002	Special Award	Himself	Recipient	[6]
2018	Best Film	BlacKkKlansman	Nominated	[7]
	Best Direction		Nominated
	Best Adapted Screenplay		Won

Critics' Choice Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Critics' Choice Movie Awards
2018	Best Director	BlacKkKlansman	Nominated	[8]
	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
2020	Best Director	Da 5 Bloods	Nominated	[9]

Emmy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Primetime Emmy Awards
1998	Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special	4 Little Girls	Nominated	[10]
2007	Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programing	When the Levees Broke	Won	[11]
	Exceptional Merit in Documentary		Won
2021	Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)	David Byrne's American Utopia	Nominated	[12]
	Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special		Nominated
New York Emmy Awards
2015	Entertainment: Program/Special	The Lineup: Best New York Movies	Won
	Interview/Discussion		Won
Sports Emmy Awards
2022	Outstanding Production	The 2021 NBA Finals	Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1990	Best Director	Do The Right Thing	Nominated	[13]
	Best Screenplay		Nominated
2019	Best Director	BlacKkKlansman	Nominated	[13]

Grammy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2022	Best Music Film	David Byrne's American Utopia	Nominated	[14]

Peabody Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2006	Peabody Award	When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts	Won
2010		If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise	Won

Festival awards

Organizations	Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
American Black Film Festival	1998	Best Director	4 Little Girls	Nominated
	1999		He Got Game	Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
	2004	Time Warner Innovator Award		Won
Atlanta Film Festival	2005	Ossie Davis Award		Won
Berlin International Film Festival	1993	Golden Bear	Malcolm X	Nominated
	1997		Get on the Bus	Nominated
		Honourable Mention		Won	[15]
	2001	Golden Bear	Bamboozled	Nominated
	2003		25th Hour	Nominated
Cannes Film Festival	1986	Caméra d'Or	She's Gotta Have It	Nominated
		Award of the Youth		Won
	1989	Palme d'Or	Do the Right Thing	Nominated
	1991		Jungle Fever	Nominated
		Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention		Won
	1999	C.I.C.A.E. Award	Summer of Sam	Nominated
	2002	Un Certain Regard Award	Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet	Nominated
	2018	Palme d'Or	BlacKkKlansman	Nominated
		Grand Prix		Won
		Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention		Won
Capri Hollywood International Film Festival	2018	Best Adapted Screenplay	Blackkklansman	Won	[16]

Miscellaneous awards

Organizations	Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
Black Movie Awards	2006	Best Director	Inside Man	Won
Black Reel Awards	2000	Best Director	Summer of Sam	Nominated
		Best Film	The Best Man	Nominated
	2001	Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original	Bamboozled	Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Film		Nominated
			Love & Basketball	Won
	2002	Network/Cable - Best Film	3 A.M.	Nominated
		Best Director: Television	A Huey P. Newton Story	Nominated'
	2003	Best Director	25th Hour	Nominated
		Best Film		Nominated
	2005	Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original	She Hate Me	Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
	2006	Best Director: Television	Sucker Free City	Nominated
			Miracle's Boys	Nominated
	2007	Best Director	Inside Man	Won
	2008		Miracle at St. Anna	Nominated
		Best Film		Nominated
	2010	Best Director	Passing Strange	Nominated
		Best Feature Documentary		Nominated
	2011	Best Television Documentary	If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise	Won
	2013	Best Director	Red Hook Summer	Nominated
		Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original		Nominated
		Best Feature Documentary	Bad 25	Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society Awards	2021	Best Director	Da 5 Bloods	Nominated
NAACP Image Awards	1989	Outstanding Motion Picture	School Daze	Nominated
	1990		Do the Right Thing	Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture		Nominated
	2007	Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture	Inside Man	Won
	2009		Miracle at St. Anna	Nominated
	2010		Passing Strange: The Movie	Nominated
	2019		BlacKkKlansman	Nominated
		Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture		Nominated
Location Managers Guild Awards	2020	Location Managers Guild Trailblazer Award [a]		Won
		Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Film [b]	Da 5 Bloods	Nominated	[17]
	2019	Outstanding Locations in a Period Film	BlacKkKlansman	Nominated

Honorary awards

Organizations	Year	Award	Result	Ref.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences	2015	Honorary Academy Award	Honored	[18]
American Society of Cinematographers	2024	Board of Governor's Award	Honored	[19]
British Academy Film Awards	2002	Special BAFTA Award	Honored	[20]
César Awards	2003	Honorary Cesar	Honored	[21]
Directors Guild of America	2022	Lifetime Achievement Award	Honored	[22]
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize	2013	Gish Prize	Honored	[23]
National Endowment for the Arts	2023	National Medal of Arts	Honored	[24]

Awards and nominations received by Lee's films

Year	Film	Academy Awards		BAFTA Awards		Golden Globe Awards
		Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins
1989	Do the Right Thing	2				4
1992	Malcolm X	2				1
2002	25th Hour					1
2018	BlacKkKlansman	6	1	5	1	4
2020	Da 5 Bloods	1		1
Total		11	1	6	1	10	0

References

1. Spike Lee has been recognized by the Location Managers Guild International with their Trailblazer Award for his innovative and collaborative use of locations as a distinct character in his films. Lee saluted location managers, saying without them, "I would not be able do what I do" as he rarely shoots on sets. "I'm out in the streets; I love shooting in the streets of New York City, especially the people's republic of Brooklyn, New York."
2. His films Da 5 Bloods & BlacKkKlansman have previously been nominated for their use of locations in their annual awards ceremony.

1. Microsoft Word - winners-by_year.doc Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
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17. Giardina, Carolyn (October 24, 2020). "Spike Lee at Location Managers Guild Awards: "God Willing We'll All Be Back Working Together"". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
18. "Spike Lee, Debbie Reynolds And Gena Rowlands To Receive Academy's 2015 Governors Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved June 19, 2025.
19. "ASC to Honor Spike Lee with Board of Governors Award". American Cinematographer. February 6, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
20. "Bafta honours Spike Lee". The Guardian . Retrieved June 19, 2025.
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23. Chris Lee (September 18, 2013). "Spike Lee awarded $300,000 Gish Prize". LA Times . Retrieved September 19, 2013.
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