1940s
Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject

This is a list of films that have received an Oscar and nomination for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and distributed in March of the following year.

1941 - Churchill's Island - National Film Board of Canada
1942 - none given
1943 - December 7th - United States Navy
1944 - With the Marines at Tarawa -- United States Marine Corps
1945 - Hitler Lives? - Gordon Hollingshead, Producer
1946 - Seeds of Destiny - United States Department of War
1947 - First Steps - United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information
1948 - Toward Independence - United States Army
1949 - (tie):
A Chance To Live - Richard de Rochemont, Producer
So Much for So Little - Edward Selzer, Producer

1950s

1950 - Why Korea? - Edmund Reek, Producer
1951 - Benjy - 'Made by Fred Zinnemann with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital'
1952 - Neighbours - Norman McLaren, Producer
1953 - The Alaskan Eskimo - Walt Disney, Producer
1954 - Thursday's Children - World Wide Pictures and Morse Films
1955 - Men against the Arctic - Walt Disney, Producer
1956 - The True Story of the Civil War - Louis Clyde Stoumen, Producer
1957 - none given
1958 - Ama Girls - Ben Sharpsteen, Producer
1959 - Glass - Bert Haanstra, Producer

1960s

1960 - Giuseppina - James Hill, Producer
1961 - Project Hope - Frank P. Bibas, Producer
1962 - Dylan Thomas - Jack Howells, Producer
1963 - Chagall - Simon Schiffrin, Producer
1964 - Nine from Little Rock - Charles Guggenheim, Producer
1965 - To Be Alive! - Francis Thompson, Producer
1966 - A Year Toward Tomorrow - Edmond A. Levy, Producer
1967 - The Redwoods - Mark Harris and Trevor Greenwood, Producers
1968 - Why Man Creates - Saul Bass, Producer
1969 - Czechoslovakia 1968 - Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco, Producers

1970s

1970 - Interviews with My Lai Veterans - Joseph Strick, Producer
1971 - Sentinels of Silence - Manuel Arango and Robert Amram, Producers
1972 - This Tiny World - Charles Huguenot van der Linden and Martina Huguenot van der Linden, Producers
1973 - Princeton: A Search for Answers - Julian Krainin and DeWitt L. Sage, Jr., Producers
1974 - Don't - Robin Lehman, Producer
1975 - The End of the Game - Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman, Producers
1976 - Number Our Days - Lynne Littman and Barbara Myerhoff, Producers
1977 - Gravity Is My Enemy - John Joseph and Jan Stussy, Producers
1978 - The Flight of the Gossamer Condor - Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd, Producers
1979 - Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist - Saul J. Turell, Producer

1980s

1980 - Karl Hess: Toward Liberty - Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue, Producer
1981 - Close Harmony - Nigel Noble, Producer
1982 - If You Love This Planet - Edward Le Lorrain and Terri Nash, Producers
1983 - Flamenco at 5:15 - Cynthia Scott and Adam Symansky, Producers
1984 - The Stone Carvers - Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner, Producers
1985 - Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements - David Goodman, Producer
1986 - Women--for America, for the World - Vivienne Verdon-Roe, Producer
1987 - Young at Heart - Sue Marx and Pamela Conn, Producers
1988 - You Don't Have to Die - William Guttentag and Malcolm Clarke, Producers
1989 - The Johnstown Flood - Charles Guggenheim, Producer

1990s

1990 - Days of Waiting - Steven Okazaki, Producer
1991 - Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment - Debra Chasnoff, Producer
1992 - Educating Peter - Thomas C. Goodwin and Gerardine Wurzburg
1993 - Defending Our Lives - Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich
1994 - A Time for Justice - Charles Guggenheim
1995 - One Survivor Remembers - Kary Antholis
1996 - Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien - Jessica Yu director, producer, writer and editor

2000s

2000 - Big Mama - Tracy Seretean
2001 - Thoth - Sarah Kernochan and Lynn Appelle
2002 - Twin Towers - Bill Guttentag, Robert David Port, Robert Port directors

The Collector of Bedford Street - Welcome Change Productions - Alice Elliott producer and director
Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks - Tell the Truth Pictures - Robert Hudson producer - Robert Houston director
Why Can't We Be a Family Again? - Roger Weisberg, Murray Nossel directors

2003 - Chernobyl Heart - Maryann DeLeo
Asylum - Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker
Ferry Tales - Katja Esson

2004 Mighty Times: The Children's March – Robert Hudson and Bobby Houston
Autism Is a World – Gerardine Wurzburg
The Children of Leningradsky – Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celinski
Hardwood – Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young
Sister Rose’s Passion – Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer

2005 A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin
The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club
God Sleeps in Rwanda
The Mushroom Club