Grierson Awards


Grierson: The British Documentary Awards, commonly known as The Grierson Awards, are awards bestowed by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, in honour of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson.
The inaugural award was given in 1972 and since then the awards have become an annual fixture. In 2000, The Grierson Trust forged a link with the UK Film Council in order to expand and add prestige to the awards. The awards have grown in stature and recognition over the years.

Awards trophy

The awards trophy is in the form of a bust of John Grierson. Sculpted posthumously by Ivor Roberts-Jones, it was struck in a limited edition of 10, with three copies held by the Trust.
Originally, the trophy was given to the award winner for one year before being returned and presented to the next recipient.

John Grierson

John Grierson was a leading documentary filmmaker, and he has also been attributed to have coined the name "documentary". He was born in Scotland in 1898. Grierson was the founder of a new movement of documentary film in the 1930s. He started the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit, and in 1933 the GPO Film Unit, gathering together such diverse and exciting talents as Humphrey Jennings, Paul Rotha and Alberto Cavalcanti. His ground-breaking work on the Scottish herring fleet, Drifters, had its premiere in 1929 alongside the first British showing of Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. In 1936, he produced the celebrated Night Mail, directed by Harry Watt with script by W.H. Auden and score by Benjamin Britten.

Grierson Trust

Founded as the Grierson Memorial Trust in 1972, shortly after the death of John Grierson, the Grierson Trust is a registered UK charity that exists to celebrate the best factual and documentary filmmaking from both the UK and globally. The trust also nurtures factual TV talent via training and mentoring schemes. Since its inception it has had nine chairs:
  • 1972 – ?: Basil Wright
  • ? – 1987: Edgar Anstey
  • 1989 – 2000: John Chittock
  • 2000 – 2002: Larry Chrisfield
  • 2002 – 2006: Edward Mirzoeff
  • 2006 – 2008: Jenny Barraclough
  • 2008 – 2010: Murray Weston
  • 2010 – 2013: Dawn Airey
  • 2013 – Present: Lorraine Heggessey
In 2022, to mark its fiftieth anniversary, the Trust published its 50 must-see documentaries since its inception in 1972.

Judging

As of 2023, the Grierson Awards employ a two-stage judging process, with each individual entry reviewed by a minimum of three members of the Trust.
A long list of eight nominees for each category is drawn up; then the contenders are judged by five-person juries, drawn from documentary makers, broadcasters and subject experts. The jurors then decide on the final four shortlisted nominations, and subsequently the winner for each category.
The judges look for evidence of quality, integrity, creativity, originality and overall excellence. They also consider the steps taken by producers to ensure the best diversity and inclusion practices, as this is considered key to the integrity and quality of any documentary. Since 2020, entrants to all but the Best Student Documentary category have been required to provide a statement on diversity and inclusion.
The Grierson Trustees' Award and Grierson Hero of the Year Award are honorary and not selected by the jury process.

2000–2024 winners

2024 winners

The eligibility window was for documentaries broadcast or available to stream in the UK between 1 June 2023 and 31 May 2024.

2023 winners

The eligibility window was for documentaries broadcast or available to stream in the UK between 1 June 2022 and 31 May 2023.
Best Single Documentary – InternationalBest Single Documentary – DomesticBest Current Affairs Documentary

  • Winner — All That Breathes:. dir. Shaunak Sen
  • Winner — Lyra:. dir. Alison Millar
  • Winner — Retrograde:. dir. Matthew Heineman
    • Best Arts DocumentaryBest Music DocumentaryBest Sports Documentary
  • Winner — "Sr.":. dir. Chris Smith
  • Winner — Moonage Daydream: dir. Brett Morgen
  • Winner — The Real Mo Farah:. dir. Leo Burley
    • Best History DocumentaryBest Science DocumentaryBest Natural History Documentary
  • Winner — Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, Episode 3:. dir. James Bluemel / Sian Mcilwaine
  • Winner — Inside Our Autistic Minds, Episode 1:. dir. Joe Myerscough / Emma Jones
  • Winner — Big Oil vs. the World, Episode 1: "Denial":. dir. Jane McMullen
    • Best Entertaining DocumentaryBest Cinema DocumentaryBest Student Documentary
  • Winner — Pepsi, Where's My Jet? Episode 1: The Kid from Seattle:. dir. Andrew Renzi
  • Winner — All That Breathes: dir. Shaunak Sen
  • Winner — With Woman:. dir. Mia Harvey
    • Best Constructed Documentary SeriesBest Documentary SeriesBest Documentary Short
  • Winner — Monster Factory:. dir. Galen Summer / Naiti Gámez
  • Winner — Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland:. dir. James Bluemel / Sian Mcilwaine
  • Winner — Lady of the Gobi:. dir. Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig
    • Best Documentary PresenterGrierson Trustees' AwardGrierson Hero of the Year Award
  • Winner — Hannah Fry for Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry:
  • Recipient — Anna Hall
  • Recipient — Deaf & Disabled People in TV

    • 2022 winners (50th anniversary awards)

    The eligibility window was for documentaries broadcast or available to stream in the UK between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2022.
    Best Single Documentary – InternationalBest Single Documentary – DomesticBest Current Affairs Documentary

  • Winner — Grenfell: The Untold Story:. dir. James Newton
  • Winner — Exposure ''- Afghanistan: No Country for Women:. dir. Karim Shah. Reporter: Ramita Navai.
    • Best Arts DocumentaryBest Music DocumentaryBest Sports Documentary
  • Winner — SALT by Selina Thompson:. dir. Alison Ramsay
  • Winner — Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, "Act I: VISION":. dir. Coodie & Chike
  • Winner — Citizen Ashe:. dir. Rex Miller / Sam Pollard
    • Best History DocumentaryBest Science DocumentaryBest Natural History Documentary
  • Winner — The Missing Children:. dir. Tanya Stephan
  • * Highly commended — Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11:. dir. David Belton / Bjorn Johnson
  • Winner — A Year in the Ice: The Arctic Drift:. dir. Ashley Morris
  • Winner — The Green Planet, Episode 1: "Tropical Worlds":. dir. Mike Gunton
  • * Highly commended — My Garden of a Thousand Bees:. dir. David Allen
    • Best Entertaining DocumentaryBest Cinema DocumentaryBest Student Documentary
  • Winner — Twas the Fight Before Christmas:. dir. Becky Read
  • Winner — Summer of Soul : dir. Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson
  • Winner — Ten by Ten: dir. Jami L. Bennett
  • * Highly commended — Daughters of the Sea:. dir. Laura Esteban
    • Best Constructed Documentary SeriesBest Documentary SeriesBest Documentary Short
  • Winner — We Are Black and British:. dir. Ryan Samuda
  • Winner — Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy:. dir. Coodie & Chike
  • Winner — Three Songs for Benazir:. dir. Elizabeth Mirzaei / Gulistan Mirzaei
  • * Highly commended — Freedom Swimmer: dir. Olivia Martin McGuire
    • Best Documentary PresenterGrierson Trustees' AwardGrierson Hero of the Year Award
  • Winners — Jamie MacDonald & Jamie O'Leary for Blind Ambition'':
  • Recipient — Roger Graef OBE
  • Recipient — Clare Richards

    • 2021 winners

    After the previous years online only ceremony, this year marked a return to an in-person event. The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 June 2020 and 31 May 2021. Best Cinema Documentary was not awarded for the first time since 2003, but two new categories were introduced, Best Sports Documentary and Hero of the Year, whilst the award for Best Arts and Music Documentary was split into two separate awards.
    Best Single Documentary – InternationalBest Single Documentary – DomesticBest Current Affairs Documentary

    • Winner — Collective: Unravelling a Scandal. dir. Alexander Nanau
  • Winner — David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. dir. Jonnie Hughes, Alastair Fothergill & Keith Scholey
  • Winner — Storyville" Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge. dir. David France
  • * Highly Commended — Undercover in the Schools that Chain Boys. dir. Jessica Kelly. Reporter. Fath Al-Rahman Al-Hamdani
    • Best Arts DocumentaryBest Music DocumentaryBest Sports Documentary
  • Winner — The Painter and the Thief. dir. Benjamin Ree
  • Winner — Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell.. dir. Emmett Malloy
  • Winner — Athlete A:. dir. Bonni Cohen / Jon Shenk
    • Best History DocumentaryBest Science DocumentaryBest Natural History Documentary
  • Winner — Once Upon a Time in Iraq: Episode 2 "Insurgency". dir. James Bluemel
  • Winner — Storyville: ''Locked In - Breaking the Silence.. dir. Xavier Alford
  • * Highly Commended — The Surgeon's Cut: Episode 1.. dir. Lucy Blakstad, Stephen Cooter, James Newton & Sophie Robinson
  • Winner — My Octopus Teacher:. dir. Pippa Ehrlich / James Reed
    • Best Entertaining DocumentaryBest Cinema DocumentaryBest Student Documentary
  • Winner — The Mole: Undercover in North Korea. dir. Mads Brügger
  • Not awarded
  • Winner — Tease:. dir. Jessica Brady
    • Best Constructed Documentary SeriesBest Documentary SeriesBest Documentary Short
  • Winner — The School That Tried to End Racism:. dir. Rachel Dupuy & David Harris
  • Winner — Once Upon a Time in Iraq: Episode 2 "Insurgency". dir. James Bluemel
  • Winner — A Love Song for Latasha:. dir. Sophia Nahli Allison
    • Best Documentary PresenterGrierson Trustees' AwardGrierson Hero of the Year Award
  • Winner — Yinka Bokinni for Damilola: The Boy Next Door
  • * Highly Commended — Dr. Chris & Xand Van Tulleken for Surviving the Virus: My Brother & Me''
  • Recipient — Tabitha Jackson
  • Recipient — Serena Kennedy