45th News & Documentary Emmy Awards Nominees Unveiled

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has unveiled the nominees for the 45th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, which will be presented in two ceremonies.

The documentary awards, which will be presented on September 26, include categories for current affairs, politics and government, social issues, investigation, history and arts and culture, among many others. In the general best documentary category, programs from PBS, HBO, discovery+, AMC+ and Showtime are nominated.

“We are honored to highlight the accomplishments and hard work of these exceptional journalists and documentarians,” said Adam Sharp, president and CEO of NATAS. “NATAS is proud to celebrate their dedication and creativity under increasing and ever-changing pressures.”

In the overall best documentary category, the list of nominees includes Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover (PBS); Free Chol Soo Lee (PBS); Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (freedomonfire.film); Great Photo, Lovely Life: Facing a Family’s Secrets (HBO/Max); Hidden Letters (PBS); January 6th (discovery+); Lakota Nation vs. United States (AMC+); Mourning In Lod (Showtime); Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning (HBO/Max); and The Stroll (HBO/Max).

Nominees for outstanding current affairs documentary are Loudmouth (BET), Love in the Time of Fentanyl (PBS), Mourning in Lod (Showtime), No Accident (HBO/Max) and Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (Netflix).

In the politics and government documentary category, nominees are Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court (PBS); Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court (Showtime); Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely (PBS), Giuliani: What Happened to America’s Mayor (CNN); and Superpower (Paramount+).

Up for the outstanding social issue documentary award are Anonymous Sister (anonymoussister.com), David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (HBO), Eat Your Catfish (PBS), Every Body (NBC) and Sound of the Police (Hulu).

Crush (Paramount+), Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus (PBS), Savior Complex (HBO/Max), Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America (Netflix) and Victim/Suspect (Netflix) are in the running for outstanding investigative documentary.

For the outstanding historical documentary award, nominees are America and The Taliban (PBS), Free Chol Soo Lee (PBS), JFK: One Day in America (National Geographic), To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb (MSNBC) and World War II: From the Front Lines (Netflix).

Nominees for the arts and culture category are A Song Film By Kishi Bashi – ‘Omoiyari’ (Paramount+), The Legacy of J. Dilla (FX), LIFT (liftdocumentary.com), Little Richard: I Am Everything (CNN Films) and Willie Nelson & Family (Paramount+).

In the science and technology section, The Battle to Beat Malaria (PBS), Cosmic Time Machine (Netflix), Encounters (Netflix), Human Footprint (PBS) and Science Fair: The Series (National Geographic) are nominated.

The nature documentary category nominees are Evolution Earth (PBS), The Hummingbird Effect (PBS), Incredible Animal Journeys (National Geographic), Path of the Panther (National Geographic) and Soul of the Ocean (PBS).

Contenders for outstanding business and economic documentary are Age of Easy Money (PBS), Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (Netflix), Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover (PBS), Nothing Lasts Forever (Showtime) and Working: What We Do All Day (Netflix).

For outstanding crime and justice documentary, Amber: The Girl Behind the Alert (Peacock), Chowchilla (CNN Films/Max), El Equipo (PBS), Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning (HBO/Max) and Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn (Apple TV+) received nods.

Nominees in the short category are Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney (Paramount+), Deciding Vote (The New Yorker), Last Song From Kabul (Paramount+), The Silent Witness (lifestories.org/films-series/the-silent-witness) and The Takeover (Field of Vision).

Nominees for the news awards and other documentary categories can be found on the National Television Academy’s website. The news categories will be awarded in a ceremony on September 25, while the documentary awards will be presented in a ceremony on September 26. Both ceremonies will take place live at the Palladium Times Square in New York City and will be streamed live on NATAS’ dedicated viewing platform powered by Vimeo.