Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming

! style="width:5%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Program

! style="width:20%;"| Episode

! style="width:45%;"| Nominees

! style="width:5%;"| Network

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1979/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As 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.

| Arnold Shapiro

| Syndicated

! style="width:5%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Program

! style="width:20%;"| Episode

! style="width:45%;"| Nominees

! style="width:5%;"| Network

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1980/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As 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.

| Robert E. Fuisz and Louis H. Gorfain

| CBS

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1983/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| colspan=2| The Body Human: The Living Code

| Robert E. Fuisz and Louis H. Gorfain

| CBS

| Chandler Cowles

| CBS

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1984/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers

| align=center| "Marshall, Texas"

| Bill Moyers

| PBS

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1985/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming-writing |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| rowspan=2| Heritage: Civilization and the Jews

| align=center| "The Crucible of Europe"

| Howard Enders, John G. Fox, Michael Joseloff and Marc Siegel

| rowspan=2| PBS

| align=center| "Out of the Ashes"

| Brian Winston

| align=center| "Roads from the Ghetto"

| John G. Fox and Eugene Marner

| rowspan=2| PBS

| David Attenborough

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1987/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming-writing |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| The Story of English

| align=center| "A Muse of Fire"

| Robert MacNeil and Robert McCrum

| PBS

| align=center| "Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day"

| John Jeremy

| PBS

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1988/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| American Masters

| align=center| "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow"

| Kevin Brownlow and David Gill

| PBS

| colspan=2| Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

| Bill Couturié and Richard Dewhurst

| HBO

| align=center| "The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table"

| Peter Foges and Mary Jo Kaplan

| PBS

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Writing in Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1989/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming-writing |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| The Mind

| align=center| "Search for the Mind"

| John Heminway

| PBS

! style="width:5%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Program

! style="width:20%;"| Episode

! style="width:45%;"| Nominees

! style="width:5%;"| Network

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Writing in Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1990/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming-writing |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As 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.

| align=center| "Broadway Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theater"

| Steve Lawson

| rowspan=2| PBS

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1991/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award.

| American Masters

| align=center| "Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer"

| Todd McCarthy

| rowspan=2| PBS

| The Civil War

| align=center| "The Better Angels of Our Nature"

| Ric Burns, Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1992/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming-writing |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As a juried award, nominees had to garner 50% approval to win the award. No nominee met the benchmark and no award was given.

| Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper

| Showtime

| Michael Mierendorf

| HBO

! colspan="4"| Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1993/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}As 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.

| align=center| "America's Folk Religion"

| Randall Balmer

| PBS

! colspan="4"| 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."{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1994/outstanding-individual-achievement-informational-programming |title=Nominees/Winners | Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=April 18, 2020}}{{cite web|last1=Feinberg|first1=Scott|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/tv-academy-rescinds-george-stevens-jrs-emmy-awards-recognition-1284117|title=TV Academy Rescinds Several of George Stevens Jr.'s Emmy Noms, Awards (Exclusive)|work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=March 12, 2020 |access-date=March 12, 2020}}

| colspan=2| The Legend of Billy the Kid

| Todd Robinson

| Disney

| colspan=2| Reflections on Elephants

| Dereck Joubert

| PBS

| The Untold West

| align=center| "The Black West"

| Dennis Watlington

| TBS

! style="width:5%;" | Year

! style="width:30%;"| Program

! style="width:30%;"| Episode(s)

! style="width:30%;"| Nominees

! style="width:5%;"| Network

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|American Experience

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Seabiscuit"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Michelle Ferrari

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|align=center| "The Murder of Emmett Till"

|Marcia A. Smith

|PBS

|Sacha Baron Cohen, Dan Mazer, Anthony Hines, Jamie Glassman and James Bobin

|rowspan=3|HBO

|Alexandra Pelosi

| Mark Jonathan Harris

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|American Masters

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Judy Garland: By Myself"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Susan Lacy and Stephen Stept

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|Rick Sebak

|PBS

|David C. Taylor

|History

|align=center| "Uganda/Thailand"

|Mark Bailey

|HBO

|align=center| "War on Drugs"

|Penn Jillette, Teller, Emma Webster, Star Price and Michael Goudeau

|Showtime

|align=center| "The Peasant"

|Terry Jones

|History

|style="background:#FAEB86;" colspan=2| Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Geoffrey C. Ward

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|Thomas Quinn and Rob Blumenstein

|History

|align=center| "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'"

|JoAnn Young

|PBS

|Saira Shah

|HBO

|align=center| "Profanity"

|Penn Jillette, Teller, Jon Hotchkiss, Star Price and Michael Goudeau

|Showtime

|style="background:#FAEB86;" colspan=2| Stardust: The Bette Davis Story

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Peter Jones

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|TCM

|align=center| "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend"

|Kenneth Bowser

|rowspan=2|PBS

|DeWitt Sage

|Alan Handel and Julian Jones

|History

|align=center| "Prostitution"

|Penn Jillette, Teller, Cliff Schoenberg, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau and Star Price

|Showtime

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|American Masters

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|James Sanders and Ric Burns

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|align=center| "Wal-Mart"

|Penn Jillette, Teller, Sheryl Zohn, Jon Hotchkiss, Michael Goudeau, Star Price, Cliff Schoenberg and David Weiss

|Showtime

|align=center| "Mountains"

|Vanessa Berlowitz and Gary Parker

|Discovery

|Steven Smith, David Comtois and Kevin Burns

|History

|align=center| "God's Close-Up"

|Nancy Updike

|Showtime

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|The War

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Pride of Our Nation (June–August 1944)"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Geoffrey C. Ward

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|align=center| "Walt Whitman"

|Mark Zwonitzer

|PBS

|align=center| "Caylee"

|Jeff Grogan

|A&E

|David de Vries

|History

|align=center| "Escape"

|Ira Glass

|Showtime

|style="background:#FAEB86;" colspan=2| Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Joe Bini, P. G. Morgan and Marina Zenovich

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|HBO

|align=center| "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer"

|David Grubin

|rowspan=3|PBS

|align=center| "Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About"

|Amanda Vaill

|align=center| "When I'm Bad, I'm Better — The Groundbreakers"

|Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon

|align=center| "New Age Medicine"

|Penn Jillette, Teller, Star Price, Rich Nathanson, Michael Goudeau, David Wechter, Cliff Schoenberg and Sheryl Zohn

|Showtime

! style="width:5%;" | Year

! style="width:30%;"| Program

! style="width:30%;"| Episode(s)

! style="width:30%;"| Nominees

! style="width:5%;"| Network

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|The National Parks: America's Best Idea

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"The Last Refuge (1890–1915)"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Dayton Duncan

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|align=center| "Division"

|Jenny Ash and Ed Fields

|History

|align=center| "Prague"

|Anthony Bourdain

|Travel

|David Grubin

|PBS

|align=center| "Challenges of Life"

|Paul Spillenger

|Discovery

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|American Experience

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Freedom Riders"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Stanley Nelson Jr.

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|align=center| "Haiti"

|Anthony Bourdain

|Travel

|Josh Fox

|HBO

|Richard Bedser and Ed Fields

|History

|align=center| "The Birth of Hollywood"

|Jon Wilkman

|TCM

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Prohibition

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"A Nation of Hypocrites"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Geoffrey C. Ward

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|PBS

|align=center| "Clinton"

|Barak Goodman

|rowspan=2|PBS

|align=center| "Johnny Carson: King of Late Night"

|Peter Jones

|align=center| "Cuba"

|Anthony Bourdain

|Travel

|Christine Ferraro

|PBS

|style="background:#FAEB86;" colspan=2| Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Alex Gibney

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|HBO

|align=center| "Libya"

|Anthony Bourdain

|CNN

|align=center| "The Great Plow-Up"

|Dayton Duncan

|PBS

|Mark Bailey

|HBO

|align=center| "A New War Begins"

|Stephen David, Patrick Reams, David C. White, Keith Palmer, Randy Counsman and Ed Fields

|History

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Standing Up in the Milky Way"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Ann Druyan and Steven Soter

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Fox

|align=center| "JFK"

|Mark Zwonitzer

|PBS

|align=center| "Congo"

|Anthony Bourdain

|align=center| "Trial by Fire"

|Stephen David, David C. White, John Ealer, Alec Michod, Chelsea Coates, Randy Counsman, Russ McCarroll, Jordan Rosenblum and David Schaye

|History

|align=center| "The Surge"

|Adam Bolt

|Showtime

|style="background:#FAEB86;" colspan=2| Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Alex Gibney

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|HBO

|align=center| "Last Days in Vietnam"

|Keven McAlester and Mark Bailey

|PBS

|align=center| "Iran"

|Anthony Bourdain

|CNN

|Brett Morgen

| HBO

|align=center| "The Rising Road (1933–1939)"

|Geoffrey C. Ward

|PBS

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Making a Murderer

|style="background:#FAEB86;" align=center|"Eighteen Years Lost"

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos

|style="background:#FAEB86;"|Netflix

|align=center| "Walt Disney"

|Mark Zwonitzer, Sarah Colt and Tom Jennings

|PBS

|align=center| "Borneo"

|Anthony Bourdain

|CNN

|Jacob Bernstein

| HBO

|David McMahon and Sarah Burns

|PBS

|style="background:#FAEB86;" | Ava DuVernay and Spencer Averick

|style="background:#FAEB86;" | Netflix

| Matthew Hamachek and Brian McGinn

| Netflix

| align=center| "Houston"

| Anthony Bourdain

| CNN

| Mark Monroe

| Hulu

| align=center| "The Sexual Spectrum"

| Prashanth Venkataramanujam, CeCe Pleasants, Sanden Totten, Mike Drucker and Flora Lichtman

| rowspan=2|Netflix

| Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

| align=center| "Southern Italy"

| Anthony Bourdain

| CNN

| align=center| "Episode 1"

| Allen Hughes, Lasse Järvi and Doug Pray

| HBO

| Bryan Fogel, Mark Monroe and Jon Bertain

| Netflix

| Brett Morgen

| Nat Geo

| JoAnn Young

| rowspan=2| PBS

| align=center| "Episode 8: The History of the World (April 1969-May 1970)"

| Geoffrey C. Ward

| Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

| align=center| "Kenya"

| Anthony Bourdain

| CNN

| align=center| "Forbidden Love"

| Amy J. Berg

| HBO

| Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby

| Hulu

| align=center| "Grasslands"

| Bruce Kennedy

| Nat Geo

| align=center| "Jungles"

| Huw Cordey, Keith Scholey, Alastair Fothergill and David Attenborough

| Netflix

| align=center| "Episode 1"

| Paul Greenhouse, Sacha Jenkins and Peter J. Scalettar

| Showtime

! style="width:5%;" | Year

! style="width:30%;"| Program

! style="width:30%;"| Episode(s)

! style="width:30%;"| Nominees

! style="width:5%;"| Network

| Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer

| align=center| "Closing the Net"

| Mark Lewis

| Netflix

| Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz and Spike Jonze

| Apple TV+

| Alisar Hasan and Feras Fayyad

| Nat Geo

| Rachel Mason and Kathryn Robson

| Netflix

| align=center| "Episode 1"

| James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte

| HBO

| colspan=2| The Social Dilemma

| Vickie Curtis, Davis Coombe and Jeff Orlowski

| Netflix

| Jack Youngelson

| Prime Video

| align=center| "Episode 3"

| Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering, Mikaela Shwer and Parker Laramie

| rowspan=2| HBO

| Mark Monroe

| Maia Harris and Marco Williams

| History

| colspan=2| Lucy and Desi

| Mark Monroe

| Prime Video

| align=center| "Shadows: Andy & Jed"

| Andrew Rossi

| Netflix

| align=center| "How To Appreciate Wine"

| John Wilson, Michael Koman, Susan Orlean and Conner O'Malley

| HBO

| align=center| "The Economy"

| Chelsea Devantez, Jon Stewart and Kristen Acimovic

| Apple TV+

| Felicity Morris

| Netflix

| The U.S. and the Holocaust

| align=center|"Episode 2: Yearning to Breathe Free (1938-1942)"

| Geoffrey C. Ward

| PBS

| align=center|"Panther Power"

| Allen Hughes and Lasse Järvi

| FX

| Brett Morgen

| rowspan="2"|HBO

| align=center|"Chapter V: Lost at Sea"

| Zach Rothfeld

| Alek Keshishian and Paul Marchand

| Apple TV+

| Conan O'Brien Must Go

| align=center|"Ireland"

| Jessie Gaskell, Conan O'Brien, Matt O'Brien and Mike Sweeney

| Max

| align=center|"How To Watch the Game"

| John Wilson, Michael Koman and Allie Viti

| HBO

| Mark Monroe

| Disney+

| align=center|"Chapter 7: Why Are You Still Here?"

| Andrew Jarecki, Sam Neave and Zac Stuart-Pontier

| HBO

| align=center|"Scotland: My Mother's Country"

| Alan Connor, David Reilly and Christine Rose

| Apple TV+