The Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Documentary Script – Other Than Current Events is an award presented by the Writers Guild of America to the best writing in a documentary about topics other than current events. It was first awarded at the 40th Writers Guild of America Awards, being the program The Grizzlies the inaugural winner of the category.
Winners and nominees 1980s Year Program Episode Writer(s) Network Ref.The GrizzliesTheodore ThomasPBS George Stevens: A Filmmaker's JourneyGeorge Stevens Jr.ABC American Experience"Mr. Sears' Catalogue"Edward Gray and Mark ObenhausPBS
1990s Year Program Episode Writer(s) Network Ref.No award givenAmerican Experience"LBJ"David GrubinPBS American Experience "Duke Ellington: Reminiscing in Tempo" Robert Levi and Geoffrey C. Ward PBSDegenerate ArtDavid GrubinPBS American Experience"The Donner Party"Ric BurnsAmerican Experience"America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference"Marty OstrowPBS American Experience"The Way West"Ric BurnsPBS Frederick Douglas: When the Lion Wrote History Steve Fayer and Theodore ThomasPBSAmerican Experience "FDR: Part 1" David Grubin "The Battle of the Bulge: World War II's Deadliest Battle" Thomas Lennon and Mark ZwonitzerPaving the WaySusan KimPBS Idols of the Game "Inventing the All-American" Robert Lipsyte TBSAmerican Experience "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" Thomas Lennon and Richard Ben CramerPBS "Chicago 1968" Chana Gazit American Masters"Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval" John F. Goff and Thomas Wagner Frontline "Angel on Death Row" Ben LoetermanInvestigative Reports"The Secret White House Tapes"Carol L. Fleisher and William DoyleA&E American Experience "New York Underground" Elena Mannes and L. Franklin DeVinePBS The West "One Sky Above Us" Geoffrey C. Ward and Dayton Duncan The Real Las Vegas "Las Vegas: Gamble in the Desert" Susan Berman, Jim Milio, Melissa Jo Peltier and Paul S. Kaufman A&EAmerican Experience"Truman"David GrubinPBS Lusitania "Murder on the Atlantic" Kelly McPherson and Melissa Jo PeltierAmerican Experience "Reagan: Part I" Adriana BoschPBS "Surviving the Dust Bowl" Chana Gazit A Science Odyssey "In Search of Ourselves" Alice Markowitz Sea Tales "The Doomed Voyage of the St. Louis" Christopher Meindl and Melissa Jo Peltier The Irish in America: Long Journey Home "Long Journey Home" Thomas N. Brown and Thomas LennonAmerican Experience"Hoover Dam"Stephen SteptPBS American Experience "Meltdown at Three Mile Island" Chana GazitPBS Nova "Lost at Sea - The Search for Longitude" Founding Fathers Melissa Jo Peltier and Max M. Fletcher History ChannelMargaret Sanger Bruce Alfred and Michelle FerrariWar Dogs: America's Forgotten Heroes Tim Prokop Discovery Channel
2000s Year Program Episode Writer(s) Network Ref.American Experience"George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire"Steve Fayer and Daniel McCabe and Paul SteklerPBS Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood Bridget Terry and Cari Beauchamp TMC Frontline "Apocalypse!" William Cran and Ben LoetermanPBS Culture Shock "Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Jill Janows and Leslie Lee American Masters "Hitchcock, Selznick & the End of Hollywood" Michael EpsteinAmerican Experience"Scottsboro: An American Tragedy"Barak GoodmanPBSNova"Hitler's Lost Sub"Rushmore DeNooyerPBS American Experience "Stephen Foster" Ken Emerson and Randy MacLowryPBS American Masters "Finding Lucy" Thomas Wagner Frontline "Medicating Kidgs" Martin Smith Jazz "Dedicated to Class" Geoffrey C. WardAmerican Experience"Monkey Trial"Christine LesiakPBS A Day in their Lives "Empire State Building Ironworker" Peter HankoffHistory Channel Founding Fathers "Evolution of a Revolution" Kelly McPherson, Melissa Jo Peltier and Allison MacEwan America’s First River "Part One" Tom Spain PBSAmerican Experience"The Murder of Emmett Till"Marcia SmithPBSNova: The Elegant Universe "Welcome To the 11th Dimension" Julia Cort and Joseph McMasterPBS "The String's the Thing" Joseph McMaster American Experience "Seabiscuit" Michelle Ferrari Becoming American: The Chinese Experience "Part II" Thomas Lennon, Mi Ling Tsui and Bill Moyers Frontline "Cyber War!" Michael KirkAmerican Experience"The Fight"Barak GoodmanPBS Broadway: The American Musical "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" JoAnn YoungPBSAmerican Experience "Reconstruction" Llewellyn M. Smith and Elizabeth Deane "RFK" David Grubin "Emma Goldman" Mel Bucklin They Made America "Revolutionaries" Carl Charlson and Harold EvansUnforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack JohnsonGeoffrey C. WardPBSShot from the Sky Tim Prokop A&EAmerican Experience "Kinsey" Barak GoodmanPBS "The Massie Affair" Mark Zwonitzer "Fidel Castro" Adriana BoschMarie AntoinetteDavid GrubinPBSAmerican Experience "The Boy in the Bubble" Barak GoodmanPBS "The Alaska Pipeline" Mark Davis "John & Abigail Adams" Elizabeth Deane "Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film" Arthur Gelb, Barbara Gelb and Ric BurnsIndependent Lens"Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life"Robert Levi and Robert SeidmanPBS Nova "Forgotten Genius" Stephen Lyons and Llewellyn M. SmithPBS American Experience "Alexander Hamilton" Ronald Blumer The War "Episode Four: Pride of Our Nation" Geoffrey C. Ward Nova"Secrets of the Parthenon"Gary GlassmanPBSAndrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency Carl BykerPBS American Experience "Kit Carson" Michelle Ferrari The Truth about Cancer Linda Garmon The Jewish Americans "The Best of Times, The Worst of Times (1924-1945)" David Grubin American Experience"The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer"Marcela Gaviria and Martin SmithPBSSoul of a People: Writing America's Story David A. Taylor, Olive Emma Bucklin and Andrea Kalin Smithsonian ChannelAmerican Experience "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" Barak Goodman PBS "We Shall Remain: Trail of Tears" Mark Zwonitzer "We Shall Remain: Tecumseh's Vision" Ric BurnsThe National Parks: America's Best Idea Dayton Duncan
2010s Year Program Episode Writer(s) Network Ref.American Experience"Wyatt Earp"Ron RapleyPBS Baseball: The Tenth Inning "Episode 1" David McMahon, Lynn Novick and Ken Burns PBS American Experience "Dolley Madison" Ronald H. BlumerNova "Hubble’s Amazing Rescue" Rushmore DeNooyer "Riddles of the Sphinx" Gary Glassman Bill Moyers Journal "LBJ’s Path to War" Bill Moyers and Michael WinshipFrontline"Wiki Secrets"Marcela Gaviria and Martin SmithPBSAmerican Experience "Triangle Fire" Mark ZwonitzerPBS “Dinosaur Bone War” Mark Davis “The Great Famine” Austin Hoyt Nova “Making Stuff Smarter” Daniel McCabe God in America “A New Adam, a New Eden” David Belton Prohibition "A Nation of Scofflaws" Geoffrey C. WardNova"The Fabric of the Cosmos: The Illusion of Time"Randall MacLowry, Joseph McMaster and Randall MacLowryPBSAmerican Experience "The Amish" David BeltonPBS "Clinton" Barak Goodman "Death and the Civil War" Ric Burns Nova "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Quantum Leap" Josh Rosen, Julia Cort and Joseph McMaster American Masters "Johnny Carson: King of Late Night" Peter T. JonesAmerican Experience"Silicon Valley"Randall MacLowry and Michelle FerrariPBSFrontline"The Choice 2012"Michael Kirk American Experience "The Abolitionists" Rob RapleyPBS The Dust Bowl "The Great Plow-Up"" Dayton DuncanFrontline"League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis"Michael Kirk and Mike WiserPBS Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey "Standing Up in the Milky Way" Ann Druyan and Steven Soter Fox The Roosevelts: An Intimate History "The Rising Road (1933–1939)" Geoffrey C. Ward PBSNova"The Great Math Mystery"Daniel McCabPBSFrontline "Firestone and the Warlord" Marcela GaviriaPBS "Secrets, Politics and Torture" Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser American Experience "The Forgotten Plague" Chana GazitJackie Robinson"Part One"David McMahon and Sarah BurnsPBSAmerican Reds Richard Wormser WPTS Dayton Frontline "Netanyahu at War" Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser PBSAmerican Experience"The Vietnam War: Episode 2"Stephen IvesPBS Frontline "Divided States of America: Part One" Michael Kirk and Mike WiserPBSAmerican Experience "The Vietnam War: Episode 6" Geoffrey C. Ward "Rachel Carson" Michelle Ferrari "The Great War: Part III" Rob Rapley American Experience"The Eugenics Crusade"Michelle FerrariPBS Frontline "Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia – Part 1" David Fanning, Linda Hirsch and Martin SmithPBSAmerican Experience "The Circus, Part One" Sharon Grimberg "Into the Amazon" John MaggioAmerican Experience"Chasing The Moon Part One: A Place Beyond The Sky"Robert StonePBSFrontline "Right to Fail" Tom JenningsPBS "Supreme Revenge" Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser
2020s Year Program Episode Writer(s) Network Ref.Frontline"Opioids, Inc."Tom JenningsPBS American Experience "The Poison Squad" John MaggioPBS Nova "The Violence Paradox" Michael Bicks and Anna Lee StrachanAmerican Experience"Citizen Hearst, Part One" Gene TempestPBS Amend: The Fight for America "Citizen" Sasha Stewart and Robe Imbriano Netflix Hemingway "A Writer" Geoffrey C. WardPBS Muhammad Ali "Round One" David McMahon and Sarah Burns
Programs with multiple wins 18 awards American Experience (PBS)
4 awards Nova (PBS) Frontline (PBS)
Programs with multiple nominations 59 nominations American Experience (PBS)
15 nominations Frontline (PBS)
13 nominations Nova (PBS)
4 nominations American Masters (PBS)
2 nominations Founding Fathers (History Channel)
See also Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming
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