| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| Currently held by | Anthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (2019) |
| Website | emmys |
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming 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:
| Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming [1] [note 1] | |||
| Scared Straight! | Arnold Shapiro | Syndicated | ||
| Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming [2] [note 2] | |||
| The Body Human: The Body Beautiful | Robert E. Fuisz and Louis H. Gorfain | CBS | ||
| 1983 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming [3] [note 3] | |||
| 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 Programming [4] [note 4] | |||
| A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers | "Marshall, Texas; Marshall, Texas" | Bill Moyers | PBS | |
| 1985 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing [5] [note 5] | |||
| 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 - Writing [6] [note 6] | |||
| 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 Programming [7] [note 7] | |||
| 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 Programming [8] [note 8] | |||
| The Mind | "Search for the Mind" | John Heminway | PBS | |
| Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Outstanding Writing in Informational Programming [9] [note 9] | |||
| American Masters | "Broadway Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theater" | Steve Lawson | PBS | |
| 1991 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming [10] [note 10] | |||
| 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 Programming [11] [note 11] | |||
| 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 Programming [12] [note 12] | |||
| Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory | "America's Folk Religion" | Randall Balmer | PBS | |
| 1994 | Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming [note 13] [note 14] [13] [14] | |||
| The Legend of Billy the Kid | Todd Robinson | Disney | ||
| Reflections on Elephants | Dereck Joubert | PBS | ||
| The Untold West | "The Black West" | Dennis Watlington | TBS | |
| Year | Program | Episode(s) | Nominees | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 [15] | American Experience | "Seabiscuit" | Michelle Ferrari | PBS |
| American Experience | "The Murder of Emmett Till" | Marcia A. Smith | PBS | |
| Da Ali G Show | Sacha Baron Cohen, Dan Mazer, Anthony Hines, Jamie Glassman and James Bobin | HBO | ||
| Journeys with George | Alexandra Pelosi | |||
| Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives | Mark Jonathan Harris | |||
| 2004 [16] | American Masters | "Judy Garland: By Myself" | Susan Lacy and Stephen Stept | PBS |
| Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor | Rick Sebak | PBS | ||
| JFK: A Presidency Revealed | David C. Taylor | History | ||
| Pandemic: Facing AIDS | "Uganda/Thailand" | Mark Bailey | HBO | |
| Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "War on Drugs" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Emma Webster, Star Price and Michael Goudeau | Showtime | |
| Terry Jones' Medieval Lives | "The Peasant" | Terry Jones | History | |
| 2005 [17] | Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson | Geoffrey C. Ward | PBS | |
| Beyond the Da Vinci Code | Thomas Quinn and Rob Blumenstein | History | ||
| Broadway: The American Musical | "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" | JoAnn Young | PBS | |
| Death in Gaza | Saira Shah | HBO | ||
| Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "Profanity" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Jon Hotchkiss, Star Price and Michael Goudeau | Showtime | |
| 2006 [18] | Stardust: The Bette Davis Story | Peter Jones | TCM | |
| American Masters | "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend" | Kenneth Bowser | PBS | |
| "Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea" | DeWitt Sage | |||
| How William Shatner Changed the World | Alan Handel and Julian Jones | History | ||
| Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "Prostitution" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Cliff Schoenberg, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau and Star Price | Showtime | |
| 2007 [19] | American Masters | "Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film" | James Sanders and Ric Burns | PBS |
| Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "Wal-Mart" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Sheryl Zohn, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau, Star Price, Cliff Schoenberg and David Weiss | Showtime | |
| Planet Earth | "Mountains" | Vanessa Berlowitz and Gary Parker | Discovery | |
| Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed | Steven Smith, David Comtois and Kevin Burns | History | ||
| This American Life | "God's Close-Up" | Nancy Updike | Showtime | |
| 2008 [20] | The War | "Pride of Our Nation (June–August 1944)" | Geoffrey C. Ward | PBS |
| American Experience | "Walt Whitman" | Mark Zwonitzer | PBS | |
| Intervention | "Caylee" | Jeff Grogan | A&E | |
| Life After People | David de Vries | History | ||
| This American Life | "Escape" | Ira Glass | Showtime | |
| 2009 [21] | Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired | Joe Bini, P. G. Morgan and Marina Zenovich | HBO | |
| American Experience | "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer" | David Grubin | PBS | |
| American Masters | "Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About" | Amanda Vaill | ||
| Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America | "When I'm Bad, I'm Better — The Groundbreakers" | Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon | ||
| Penn & Teller: Bullshit! | "New Age Medicine" | Penn Jillette, Teller, Star Price, Rich Nathanson, Michael Goudeau, David Wechter, Cliff Schoenberg and Sheryl Zohn | Showtime | |
| Year | Program | Episode(s) | Nominees | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 [32] | ||||
| Beastie Boys Story | Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz and Spike Jonze | Apple TV+ | ||
| The Cave | James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte | Nat Geo | ||
| Circus of Books | Rachel Mason and Kathryn Robson | Netflix | ||
| Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer | "Closing the Net" | Mark Lewis | ||
| McMillion$ | "Episode 1" | James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte | HBO | |
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