Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Documentary Script – Current Events

Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Documentary Script – Current Events
Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Documentary Script – Current Events
Awarded for	Outstanding Writing in Documentaries – Current Events
Country	United States
Presented by	Writers Guild of America
First awarded	1988
Currently held by	Rick Young for "The Healthcare Divide" (Frontline) - 2021
Website	www.wga.org

The Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Documentary Script – Current Events is an award presented by the Writers Guild of America to the best writing in a documentary about current events. It was first awarded at the 41st Writers Guild of America Awards, being the episode "Apartheid Part 5: 1987" from the American program Frontline the inaugural winner of the category.

Winners and nominees

1980s

Year	Program	Episode	Writer(s)	Network	Ref.
1988 (41st)	Frontline	"Apartheid Part 5: 1987"	Irv Drasnin	PBS
1989 (42nd)	Secret Intelligence		Joseph Angier and Blaine Baggett	PBS

1990s

Year	Program	Episode	Writer(s)	Network	Ref.
1990 (43rd)	Frontline	"Seven Days in Bensonhurst"	Thomas Lennon and Shelby Steele	PBS
1991 (44th)	Power in the Pacific		Joseph Angier and Carl Byker	PBS
1992 (45th)	No award given
1993 (46th)	Frontline	"The Choice '92"	Richard Ben Gramer, Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein	PBS
1994 (47th)	No award given
1995 (48th)	The Human Quest	"The Nature of Human Nature"	Roger Bingham and Carl Byker	PBS
	48 Hours	"The Rage Over Welfare"	Greg Kandra	CBS
	Frontline	"Rush Lumbaugh's America"	Stephen Talbot	PBS
	Frontline	"Currents of Fear"	Jon Palfreman	PBS
1996 (49th)	Frontline	"The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson"	Marshall Frady and Mark Zwonitzer	PBS	^[1]
	Primetime Live	"Judgement at Midnight"	Mark Zwonitzer	ABC
	Nova	"Bombing of America"	Nancy Linde	PBS
1997 (50th)	Dateline NBC	"Why Can't We Live Together?"	Craig Leake	NBC	^[2]
1997 (50th)	Frontline	"The Choice 1996"	Helen Whitney and Jane Barnes	PBS	^[2]
1998 (51st)	Frontline	"Once Upon a Time in Arkansas"	Michael Kirk and Peter J. Boyer	PBS	^[3]
	Primetime Live	"The McCaughey Seven: A Homecoming"	Lori A. Bores	ABC
	Frontline	"Busted: America's War on Marijuana"	Elena Mannes	PBS
1999 (52nd)	Frontline	"Give War A Chance"	Michael Kirk and Peter J. Boyer	PBS	^[4]
	Dateline NBC	"The Greatest Generation"	Tom Brokaw and Craig Leake	NBC
	Frontline	"Surviving Aids"	Martin Smith and Lowell Bergman	PBS
	Nova	"Surviving Aids"	Elizabeth Arledge
	The Awful Truth	"Funeral in a HMO"	Annie Cohen, Francis Gasparini, Henriette Mantel, Jay Martel, Nick McKinney and Michael Moore	Bravo

2000s

Year	Program	Episode	Writer(s)	Network	Ref.
2000 (53rd)	Frontline	"John Paul II: The Millennial Pope"	Helen Whitney and Jane Barnes	PBS	^[5]
	The Awful Truth	"Holiday Inn Attempts to Deport Its Mexican Housekeepers for Organizing a Union"	Michael Moore and Nick McKinney	Bravo
	Frontline	"Justice for Sale"	Stephen Talbot and Sheila Kaplan	PBS
	Frontline	"The Killer at Thurston High"	Michael J. Kirk and Peter J. Boyer	PBS
2001 (54th)	Frontline	"Drug Wars: Part 2"	Lowell Bergman, Kenneth Levism, Doug Hamilton and Oriana Zill	PBS	^[6]
2001 (54th)	Frontline	"Drug Wars, Part 1"	Martin Smith, Brooke Runnette and Oriana Zill	PBS	^[6]
2002 (55th)	9/11		Tom Forman and Greg Kandra	CBS	^[7]
	Frontline	"The Man Who Knew"	Michael Kirk	PBS
	Frontline	"Rollover: The Hidden Story of the SUV"	Marc Shaffer and Barak Goodman
	Nova	"Bioterror"	Matthew Collins
2003 (56th)	Frontline	"Truth, War and Consequences"	Martin Smith	PBS	^[8]
2003 (56th)	Frontline	"The War Behind Closed Doors"	Michael Kirk	PBS	^[8]
2004 (57th)	Frontline	"From China With Love"	Michael Kirk	PBS	^[9]
2004 (57th)	Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style	"P.O.V."	Paul Stekler	PBS	^[9]
2005 (58th)	Frontline	"The Torture Question"	Edward Grey	PBS	^[10]
	Someone's Watching		Michael Kirk	PBS
	Frontline	"Is Wal-Mart Good for America?"	Hedrick Smith
	Frontline	"The Soldier's Heart"	Raney Aronson
2006 (59th)	Frontline	"The Dark Side"	Michael Kirk	PBS	^[11]
	Frontline	"The Meth Epidemic"	Cark Byker	PBS
		"The Age of AIDS"	William Cran and Renata Simone
		"Can You Afford to Retire?"	Hedrick Smith and Rick Young
2007 (60th)	Frontline	"Return of the Taliban"	Martin Smith	PBS	^[12]
	America at a Crossroads	"Security vs. Liberty: The Other War"	Edward Gray	PBS
	Frontline	"The Enemy Within"	Lowell Bergman and Oriana Zill De Granados
		"News War Part 1: Secrets Sources and Spin"	Raney Aronson-Rath, Lowell Bergman and Seth Bomse
		"News War Part 3: What's Happening to the News?"	Stephen Talbot and Lowell Bergman
		"Spying on the Home Front"	Hedrick Smith and Rick Young
2008 (61st)	Frontline	"Bush's War: Part One"	Michael Kirk	PBS	^[13]
	Nova	"Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial"	Joseph McMaster	PBS
	Depression: Out of the Shadows		Larkin McPhee
	Frontline	"Rules of Engagement"	Arun Rath
	Frontline	"The Medicated Child"	Marcela Gaviria
2009 (62nd)	Frontline	"The Madoff Affair"	Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith	PBS	^[14]
	Frontline	"Black Money"	Lowell Bergman and Oriana Zill de Granados	PBS
		"Heat"	Martin Smith
		"The Hugo Chávez Show"	Ofra Bikel
		"Inside the Meltdown"	Michael Kirk
		"Poisoned Waters"	Hedrick Smith and Rick Young

2010s

Year	Program	Episode	Writer(s)	Network	Ref.
2010 (63rd)	Frontline	"Flying Cheap"	Rick Young	PBS	^[15]
	Frontline	"College, Inc."	Martin Smith and John Maggio	PBS
		"The Card Game"	Lowell Bergman and Oriana Zill de Granados
		"The Quake"	Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria
		"The Vaccine War"	Jon Palfreman
		"The Warning"	Michael Kirk
2011 (64th)	Frontline	"Top Secret America"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS	^[16]
	Nova	“Smartest Machine on Earth”	Julia Cort and Michael Bicks	PBS
	Frontline	“The Spill”	Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith	PBS
2012 (65th)	Frontline	"Money, Power and Wall Street: Episode One"	Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith	PBS	^[17]
	Frontline	"The Anthrax Files"	Michael Kirk	PBS
		"Lost in Detention"	Rick Young
		"Money, Power and Wall Street: Episode Three"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser
		"Money, Power and Wall Street: Episode Four"	Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith
		"A Perfect Terrorist"	Thomas Jennings
2013 (66th)	Frontline	"Egypt in Crisis"	Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith	PBS	^[18]
2013 (66th)	Frontline	"Cliffhanger"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS	^[18]
2014 (67th)	Frontline	"United States of Secrets: The Program (Part One)"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS	^[19]
	Frontline	"United States of Secrets: Privacy Lost (Part Two)"	Martin Smith	PBS
	Frontline	"Losing Iraq"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS
2015 (68th)	Frontline	"American Terrorist"	Thomas Jennings	PBS	^[20]
2015 (68th)	Frontline	"Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS	^[20]
2016 (69th)	Frontline	"The Choice 2016"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS	^[21]
	Frontline	"Inside Assad's Syria"	Martin Smith	PBS
	Frontline	"Chasing Heroin"	Marcela Gaviria	PBS
2017 (70th)	Frontline	"Confronting ISIS"	Martin Smith	PBS	^[22]
	Unseen Enemy		Janet Tobias	CNN
	Frontline	"Poverty, Politics and Profit"	Rick Young	PBS
2018 (71st)	Frontline	"Trump's Takeover"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS	^[23]
	Nova	"Black Hole Apocalypse"	Rushmore DeNooyer	PBS
	Frontline	"Blackout in Puerto Rico"	Rick Young
	Frontline	"The Gang Crackdown"	Marcela Gaviria
2019 (72nd)	Frontline	"Trump's Trade War"	Marcela Gaviria	PBS	^[24]
	Frontline	"Coal's Deadly Dust"	Elaine McMillion Sheldon	PBS
	Frontline	"The Mueller Investigation"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS

2020s

Year	Program	Episode	Writer(s)	Network	Ref.
2020 (73rd)	Agents of Chaos	"Part II"	Alex Gibney and Michael J. Palmer	HBO	^[25]
	Frontline	"The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden"	Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser	PBS
	Frontline	"Whose Vote Counts"	Jelani Cobb, June Cross and Tom Jennings	PBS
	Agents of Chaos	"Part I"	Alex Gibney and Michael J. Palmer	HBO
2021 (74th)	Frontline	"The Healthcare Divide"	Rick Young	PBS	^[26]
2021 (74th)	Frontline	"The Jihadist"	Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria	PBS	^[26]

Programs with multiple awards

26 awards

Frontline (PBS)

Programs with multiple nominations

77 nominations

Frontline (PBS)

6 nominations

Nova (PBS)

2 nominations

References

^ "Writers Guild of America 1997 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ "Writers Guild of America 1998 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ "Writers Guild of America 1999 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ "Writers Guild of America 2000 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (January 10, 2001). "NBC tops WGA TV noms". Variety. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (15 January 2002). "PBS tops WGA list". Hollywood. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ Cadorette, Guylaine (6 February 2003). "WGA Nominations Announced". Hollywood. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ Hiestand, Jesse (19 January 2004). "'Simpsons,' 'Law & Order' Top WGA Noms". Backstage. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (15 December 2004). "'Wing' still has the write stuff". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (14 December 2005). "Peacock laffers have the write stuff". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ DiOrio, Carl (14 December 2006). "HBO, NBC dominate WGA noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ DiOrio, Carl (13 December 2007). "HBO tops WGA Award noms with five". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, And Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". Writers Guild of America East. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ "WGA announces TV noms". Variety. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (8 December 2010). "2011 WGA Award Nominations For TV". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
^ Fernandez, Jay A. (19 February 2012). "Writers Guild Awards: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ Kim, Wook (18 February 2013). "2013 WGA Awards: The Complete List Of Winners". Time. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ "WGA Awards 2014: Complete list of winners and nominees". Los Angeles Times. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (14 February 2015). "'Grand Budapest Hotel,' 'True Detective' Top WGA Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (13 February 2016). "WGA Honors 'Big Short,' 'Spotlight,' 'Mad Men' at 68th Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ Littleton, Cynthia; McNary, Dave (19 February 2017). "WGA Awards: 'Moonlight,' 'Arrival' Win For Best Screenplay, 'Atlanta' Wins Twice". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ "WGA Awards: The Complete Winners List". Variety. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ McNary, Dave (17 February 2019). "WGA Awards 2019 Winners: 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?,' 'Eighth Grade' Win Screenplay Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^ Lindhal, Chris (1 February 2020). "Writers Guild Awards 2020: 'Parasite' and 'JoJo Rabbit' Win Screenplay Awards". IndieWire. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
^ Hipes, Patrick (February 3, 2021). "WGA Awards TV Nominations: 'Better Call Saul', 'Ted Lasso' & 'The Great' Lead Way". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
^ Hipes, Patrick (January 13, 2022). "WGA Awards TV Nominations: 'Yellowjackets', 'Hacks', 'Loki', 'Only Murders In The Building' Join Usual Suspects On List". Deadline. Retrieved January 14, 2022.

[1] "Writers Guild of America 1997 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[2] "Writers Guild of America 1998 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[3] "Writers Guild of America 1999 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[4] "Writers Guild of America 2000 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[5] McNary, Dave (January 10, 2001). "NBC tops WGA TV noms". Variety. Retrieved March 7, 2019.

[6] McNary, Dave (15 January 2002). "PBS tops WGA list". Hollywood. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[7] Cadorette, Guylaine (6 February 2003). "WGA Nominations Announced". Hollywood. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[8] Hiestand, Jesse (19 January 2004). "'Simpsons,' 'Law & Order' Top WGA Noms". Backstage. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[9] McNary, Dave (15 December 2004). "'Wing' still has the write stuff". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[10] McNary, Dave (14 December 2005). "Peacock laffers have the write stuff". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[11] DiOrio, Carl (14 December 2006). "HBO, NBC dominate WGA noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[12] DiOrio, Carl (13 December 2007). "HBO tops WGA Award noms with five". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[13] "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, And Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". Writers Guild of America East. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[14] "WGA announces TV noms". Variety. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[15] Andreeva, Nellie (8 December 2010). "2011 WGA Award Nominations For TV". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 March 2019.

[16] Fernandez, Jay A. (19 February 2012). "Writers Guild Awards: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[17] Kim, Wook (18 February 2013). "2013 WGA Awards: The Complete List Of Winners". Time. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[18] "WGA Awards 2014: Complete list of winners and nominees". Los Angeles Times. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2019.

[19] McNary, Dave (14 February 2015). "'Grand Budapest Hotel,' 'True Detective' Top WGA Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[20] McNary, Dave (13 February 2016). "WGA Honors 'Big Short,' 'Spotlight,' 'Mad Men' at 68th Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[21] Littleton, Cynthia; McNary, Dave (19 February 2017). "WGA Awards: 'Moonlight,' 'Arrival' Win For Best Screenplay, 'Atlanta' Wins Twice". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[22] "WGA Awards: The Complete Winners List". Variety. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[23] McNary, Dave (17 February 2019). "WGA Awards 2019 Winners: 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?,' 'Eighth Grade' Win Screenplay Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

[24] Lindhal, Chris (1 February 2020). "Writers Guild Awards 2020: 'Parasite' and 'JoJo Rabbit' Win Screenplay Awards". IndieWire. Retrieved 3 February 2020.

[25] Hipes, Patrick (February 3, 2021). "WGA Awards TV Nominations: 'Better Call Saul', 'Ted Lasso' & 'The Great' Lead Way". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2021.

[26] Hipes, Patrick (January 13, 2022). "WGA Awards TV Nominations: 'Yellowjackets', 'Hacks', 'Loki', 'Only Murders In The Building' Join Usual Suspects On List". Deadline. Retrieved January 14, 2022.

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