| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| Currently held by | Conan O'Brien Must Go (2024) |
| Website | emmys |
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:
| 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" | 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 | |
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