En İyi Belgesel Film Akademi Ödülü

Aşağıdaki listede filmler Akademi ödülleri kuralları takip edilerek ödül aldıkları yıllara göre sıralanmıştır (Akademi kurallarına göre şeçilebilir oldukları yıla göre). Uygulamada ise belgesel filmlerinin dağıtımındaki sıkıntılar sebebi ile bazen üretim yılından sonraki yıllar olmak üzere farklı yerlerde farklı yıllarda yayımlanabilmektedir.

1942'de bir Belgesel kategorisi ve 4 kazanan bulunmaktadır.

• 1942
  • The Battle of Midway
  • Kokoda Front Line
  • Moscow Strikes Back
  • Prelude to War

1943'te Belgesel kategorisi En İyi Belgesel Film ve En İyi Kısa Belgesel Fim olmak üzere ikiye ayrılmıştır.

• 1943 - Desert Victory
  • Baptism of Fire
  • The Battle of Russia
  • Report from the Aleutians
  • War Department Report
• 1944 - The Fighting Lady
  • Resisting Enemy Interrogation
• 1945 - The True Glory
  • The Last Bomb
• 1946 - Verilmedi
• 1947 - Design for Death
  • Journey Into Medicine
  • The World Is Rich
• 1948 - The Secret Land
  • The Quiet One
• 1949 - Daybreak in Udi
  • Kenji Comes Home

• 1950 - The Titan: Story of Michelangelo
  • With These Hands
• 1951 - Kon-Tiki
  • I Was a Communist for the FBI
• 1952 - The Sea Around Us
  • The Hoaxters
  • Navajo
• 1953 - The Living Desert
  • The Conquest of Everest
  • A Queen Is Crowned
• 1954 - The Vanishing Prairie
  • The Stratford Adventure
• 1955 - Helen Keller in Her Story (The Unconquered olarak da bilinir)
  • Crèvecoeur
• 1956 - The Silent World
  • Where Mountains Float (Danca: Hvor bjergene sejler)
  • The Naked Eye
• 1957 - Albert Schweitzer
  • On the Bowery
  • Torero
• 1958 - White Wilderness
  • Antarctic Crossing
  • The Hidden World
  • Psychiatric Nursing
• 1959 - Serengeti Shall Not Die
  • The Race for Space

• 1960 - The Horse with the Flying Tail
  • Rebel in Paradise
• 1961 - Sky Above and Mud Beneath – Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau
  • La grande olimpiade – Romolo Marcellini
• 1962 - Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler
  • Alvorada
• 1963 - Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel With the World
  • Le Maillon et la chaîne
  • The Yanks Are Coming
• 1964 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau's World Without Sun
  • 14-18
  • Alleman
  • The Finest Hours
  • Four Days in November
• 1965 - The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
  • The Battle of the Bulge... The Brave Rifles
  • The Forth Road Bridge
  • Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
  • Mourir à Madrid
• 1966 - The War Game
  • The Face of a Genius
  • Helicopter Canada
  • The Really Big Family
  • Le Volcan interdit
• 1967 - The Anderson Platoon
  • Festival
  • Harvest
  • A King's Story
  • A Time for Burning
• 1968 - Journey Into Self Not: 14 Nisan 1969'daki ödül töreninde Young Americans filmi bu kategorideki kazanan olarak açıklanmasına karşın 7 Mayıs 1969'da filmin Ekim 1967'de gösterildiğinin ortaya çıkması üzerine 1968 yılı ödülleri için seçilemiyeçeği açıklanmıştır. 8 Mayıs 1969'da ikinciliği kazanan aday Journey Into Self bu kategorideki kazanan olarak ilan edilmiştir.
  • A Few Notes on Our Food Problem
  • Legendary Champions
  • Other Voices
• 1969 - Arthur Rubinstein - The Love of Life
  • Before the Mountain Was Moved
  • In the Year of the Pig
  • Olimpiada en México
  • The Wolf Men

• 1970 - Woodstock
  • Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (İngilizce adıyla "Chariots Of The Gods?")
  • Jack Johnson
  • King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
  • Say Goodbye
• 1971 - The Hellstrom Chronicle
  • Alaska Wilderness Lake
  • Le chagrin et la pitié
  • On Any Sunday
  • Ra
• 1972 - Marjoe
  • Bij de beesten af
  • Malcolm X
  • Manson
  • The Silent Revolution
• 1973 - The Great American Cowboy
  • Always a New Beginning
  • Journey to the Outer Limits
  • Schlacht um Berlin
  • Walls of Fire
• 1974 - Hearts and Minds
  • Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman
  • The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art
  • The 81st Blow
  • The Wild and the Brave
• 1975 - The Man Who Skied Down Everest
  • The California Reich
  • Fighting for Our Lives
  • The Incredible Machine
  • The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir
• 1976 - Harlan County, USA
  • Hollywood on Trial
  • Off the Edge
  • People of the Wind
  • Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
• 1977 - Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
  • The Children of Theatre Street
  • High Grass Circus
  • Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love
  • Union Maids
• 1978 - Scared Straight!
  • Mysterious Castles of Clay
  • Raoni
  • Le vent des amoureux
  • With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade
• 1979 - Best Boy
  • Generation on the Wind
  • Going the Distance
  • The Killing Ground
  • The War at Home

• 1980 From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China – Murray Lerner
  • Agee
  • The Day After Trinity
  • Front Line
  • The Yellow Star - The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45
• 1981 Genocide – Arnold Schwartzman
  • Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey
  • Brooklyn Bridge
  • Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott
  • El Salvador: Another Vietnam
• 1982 Just Another Missing Kid – John Zaritsky
  • A Portrait of Giselle
  • After the Axe
  • Ben's Mill
  • In Our Water
• 1983 He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' – Emile Ardolino
  • Children of Darkness
  • First Contact
  • The Profession of Arms
  • Seeing Red
• 1984 The Times of Harvey Milk – Robert Epstein ve Richard Schmiechen
  • High Schools
  • In the Name of the People
  • Marlene
  • Streetwise
• 1985 Broken Rainbow – Maria Florio ve Victoria Mudd
  • The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo
  • Soldiers in Hiding
  • The Statue of Liberty
  • Unfinished Business
• 1986 - (beraberlik): Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got ve Down and Out in America
  • Chile: Hasta Cuando?
  • Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer
  • Witness to Apartheid
• 1987 The Ten-Year Lunch
  • Eyes on the Prize
  • Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima
  • Radio Bikini
  • A Stitch for Time
• 1988 Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
  • The Cry of Reason: Beyers Naude - An Afrikaner Speaks Out
  • Let's Get Lost
  • Promises to Keep
  • Who Killed Vincent Chin?
• 1989 Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
  • Adam Clayton Powell
  • Crack USA: County Under Siege
  • For All Mankind
  • Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren

• 1990 American Dream – Barbara Kopple
  • Berkeley in the Sixties
  • Building Bombs
  • Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
  • Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
• 1991 In the Shadow of the Stars – Allie Light ve Irving Saraf
  • Death on the Job
  • Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House
  • The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945
  • Wild by Law
• 1992 The Panama Deception – Barbara Trent ve David Kasper
  • Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker
  • Fires of Kuwait
  • Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
  • Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann
• 1993 I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School – Susan Raymond
  • The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter
  • Children of Fate
  • For Better or For Worse
  • The War Room
• 1994 Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision – Freida Lee Mock
  • Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter
  • D-Day Remembered
  • Freedom on My Mind
  • A Great Day in Harlem
• 1995 Anne Frank Remembered – Jon Blair
  • The Battle Over Citizen Kane
  • Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream
  • Small Wonders
  • Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern
• 1996 When We Were Kings – Leon Gast
  • The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story
  • Mandela
  • Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse
  • Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press
• 1997 The Long Way Home – Mark Jonathan Harris
  • Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
  • Colors Straight Up
  • 4 Little Girls
  • Waco: The Rules of Engagement
• 1998 The Last Days – James Moll
  • The Dancemaker
  • The Farm: Angola, U.S.A.
  • Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth
  • Regret to Inform
• 1999 One Day in September by Kevin MacDonald
  • Buena Vista Social Club
  • Genghis Blues
  • On the Ropes
  • Speaking in Strings

2000: Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport – Mark Jonathan Harris ve Deborah Oppenheimer

• Legacy – Tod Lending
• Long Night's Journey into Day – Deborah Hoffmann ve Frances Reid
• Scottsboro: An American Tragedy – Daniel Anker ve Barak Goodman
• Sound and Fury – Josh Aronson ve Roger Weisberg

2001: Murder on a Sunday Morning (Un coupable idéal) – Jean-Xavier de Lestrade ve Denis Poncet

• Children Underground – Edet Belzberg
• LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton – Deborah Dickson ve Susan Frömke
• Promises – B.Z. Goldberg ve Justine Shapiro
• War Photographer – Christian Frei

2002: Bowling for Columbine – Michael Donovan ve Michael Moore

• Daughter from Danang – Gail Dolgin ve Vicente Franco
• Prisoner of Paradise – Malcolm Clarke ve Stuart Sender
• Spellbound – Jeffrey Blitz ve Sean Welch
• Kanatlı Uygarlık – Jacques Perrin

2003: The Fog of War – Errol Morris

• Balseros
• Capturing the Friedmans
• My Architect
• The Weather Underground

2004: Born into Brothels – Ross Kauffman ve Zana Briski

• The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel) – Byambasuren Davaa ve Luigi Falorni
• Super Size Me – Morgan Spurlock
• Tupac: Resurrection – Karolyn Ali ve Lauren Lazin
• Twist of Faith – Kirby Dick ve Eddie Schmidt

2005: March of the Penguins (La marche de l'empereur) – Luc Jacquet

• Darwin's Nightmare – Hubert Sauper
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room – Alex Gibney ve Jason Kliot
• Murderball – Henry Alex Rubin ve Dana Adam Shapiro
• Street Fight – Marshall Curry

2006: An Inconvenient Truth – Davis Guggenheim

• Deliver Us from Evil – Amy Berg ve Frank Donner
• Iraq in Fragments – James Longley ve Yahya Sinno
• Jesus Camp – Heidi Ewing ve Rachel Grady
• My Country, My Country – Jocelyn Glatzer ve Laura Poitras

2007: Taxi to the Dark Side – Alex Gibney ve Eva Orner

• No End in Sight – Charles Ferguson ve Audrey Marrs
• Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience – Richard Robbins
• Sicko – Michael Moore ve Meghan O'Hara
• War/Dance – Sean Fine ve Andrea Nix

2008: Man on Wire – Simon Chinn ve James Marsh

• The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) – Ellen Kuras ve Thavisouk Phrasavath
• Encounters at the End of the World – Werner Herzog ve Henry Kaiser
• The Garden – Scott Hamilton Kennedy
• Trouble the Water – Carl Deal ve Tia Lessin

2009: The Cove – Louie Psihoyos

• Burma VJ – Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• Food, Inc. – Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers – Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• Which Way Home – Rebecca Cammisa

• 2010: Inside Job  – Charles H. Ferguson ve Audrey Marrs
  • Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy ve Jaimie D'Cruz
  • Gasland – Josh Fox ve Trish Adlesic
  • Restrepo – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
  • Waste Land – Lucy Walker ve Angus Aynsley
• 2011: Undefeated  – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay ve Richard Middlemas
  • Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis ve Mike Lerner
  • If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry ve Sam Cullman
  • Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger ve Bruce Sinofsky
  • Pina – Wim Wenders ve Gian-Piero Ringel
• 2012: Searching for Sugar Man  – Malik Bendjelloul ve Simon Chinn
  • 5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat ve Guy Davidi
  • The Gatekeepers - Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky ve Estelle Fialon
  • How to Survive a Plague - David France ve Howard Gertler
  • The Invisible War - Kirby Dick ve Amy Ziering
• 2013: 20 Feet from Stardom - Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen ve Cveaitrin Rogers
  • The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer ve Signe Byre Sorenson
  • Cutie and The Boxer – Zachary Heinzerling ve Kydia Dean Pilcher
  • Dirty Wars – Richard Rowley ve Jeremy Scahill
  • The Square – Jehane Nouaim ve Karim Amer
• 2014 : Citizenfour - Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy ve Dirk Wilutzky
  • Finding Vivian Maier – John Mallof ve Charlie Siskel
  • Last Days in Vietnam – Rory Kennedy ve Kevin McAlester
  • The Salt of The Eart – Win Wnders, Julianı Ribeiro Salgado ve David Rosier
  • Virunga – Orlando Won Einsiedel ve Joanna Natasegara
• 2015 Amy - Asif Kapadia ve James Gay Ress
  • Cartel Land – Matthew Heineman ve Tom Yellin
  • The Look Of Silence – Joshua Oppenheimer ve Signe Byre Sorenson
  • What Happened, Miss Simone? – Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby ve Justin Wilkes
  • Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom – Evgeny Afineevsky ve Den Tolmor
• 2016 O.J.: Made in America - Ezra Edelman ve Caroline Waterlow
  • Fire at Sea - Gianfranco Rosi ve Donatella Palermo
  • I Am Not Your Negro - Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety ve Hébert Peck
  • Life, Animated - Roger Ross Williams ve Julie Goldman
  • 13th Ava DuVernay, - Spencer Averick ve Howard Barish