Grierson Awards

Grierson: The British Documentary Awards or more informally, The Grierson Awards as they are known, 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.

The 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.

The 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:

In 2022, to mark its fiftieth anniversary, the Trust published its 50 must-see documentaries since its inception in 1972.
 * 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

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.

2023 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries broadcast or available to stream in the UK between 1 June 2022 and 31 May 2023.

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.

2021 winners
After the previous years on-line 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.

2020 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 June 2019 and 31 May 2020.

2019 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 June 2018 and 31 May 2019.

2018 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 June 2017 and 31 May 2018.  

2017 winners
The award for Best Newcomer was replaced with an award for Best Documentary Short in 2017.

2016 winners
This year saw the Best Science or Natural History Documentary award split into two separate categories and a new award for Best Constructed Documentary Series introduced. The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 May 2015 to 30 April 2016.

2015 winners
The Readers' Choice Award was dropped in this year. The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 May 2014 and 30 April 2015.

2014 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries that had their first UK screening between 1 May 2013 and 30 April 2014.

2013 winners
This year saw the introduction of awards for Best Documentary on Current Affairs, Documentary Presenter of the Year and the Readers' Choice Award.

2011 winners
This year saw the award for Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue split into two; one for domestic productions and one of international. The award for Best Drama Documentary was replaced by an award for Best Student Documentary.

2009 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries first screened in the UK between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2009.

2008 winners
The Trustees' Award was not bestowed this year.

2007 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries first screened in the UK between 1 May 2006 and 30 April 2007.

2006 winners
The award for Best Documentary Series was reinstated after being dropped the previous year.

2005 winners
This year saw the award for Best International Documentary and Best Cinema Documentary combined into a new Best International Cinema Documentary award. The Best Documentary Series award was replaced with a new award for Best Drama Documentary.

2004 winners
The eligibility window was for documentaries first screened in the UK between 1 May 2003 and 30 April 2004.

2003 winners
New categories of Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World and Best Cinema Documentary were introduced this year. Also any entry which was substantially produced on photographic film was also considered for the Best Documentary on Film award. The Lifetime Achievement Award was renamed back to the Trustees' Award. All entries were required to have had a public screening or broadcast in the UK between 1 May 2002 and 30 April 2003.

2002 winners
Once again the awards were expanded. New categories of Best Documentary on the Arts, Most Entertaining Documentary and International Documentary were added. The eligibility window was for documentaries first screened publicly between 1 May 2001 to 30 April 2002.

2000 / 2001 winners
In 2000, with support from the UK Film Council the awards were expanded to four categories and the Trustees' Award renamed to the Lifetime Achievement Award. The best documentary selected from these four category winners went on to win the overall Premier Grierson Award. The eligibility window was for documentaries first screened publicly between 1 January 2000 and 30 April 2001.

1972–1999 winners
From 1972 to 1999 there was a single award for Best British Documentary. In 1998 an honorary Trustees' Award was introduced. The 1999 winners' ceremony was held at The Savoy Hotel in London on 23 March 2000 with Andrew Neil as guest speaker.

1990s

 * 1999: Gulag: Enemy of the People (dir. Angus Macqueen / BBC Two) and Trustees' Award to David Munro and Philip Donnallen
 * 1998: Inside Story: Tongue Tied (dir. Olivia Lichtenstein / BBC One) and Trustees' Award to Michael Apted
 * 1997: The System: The Nature of the Beast (dir. Peter Dale / BBC Two)
 * 1996: Man and Animal (dir. Antony Thomas / Carlton TV)
 * 1995: Tripping with Zhirinovsky (dir. Paul Pawlikowski / BBC)
 * 1994: Beyond the Clouds (dir. Philip Agland / Channel 4)
 * 1993: Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (dir. Nick Broomfield / Lafayette Films)
 * 1992: Children of Chernobyl (dir. Clive Gordon / Yorkshire Television)
 * 1991: Absurdistan (dir. John Whiston / BBC)
 * 1990: Four Hours in Mai Lai (dir. Kevin Sim / Yorkshire Television)

1980s

 * 1989: Concerning Cancer (dir. John Morgan / Channel 4)
 * 1988: Fourteen Days in May (dir. Paul Hamann / BBC)
 * 1987: Handsworth Songs (dir. John Akomfrah / Black Audio Film Collective)
 * 1986: From the Cradle to the Grave (dir. John Willis / Yorkshire Television)
 * 1985: Miners Campaign Tapes (Platform Films / National Union of Mineworkers)
 * 1984: Framed Youth (London Lesbian and Gay Youth Video Project / GLAA)
 * 1983: Give Us This Day (dir. Phil Mulloy / Arts Council of Great Britain)
 * 1981/1982: Rough Cut and Ready Dubbed (dir. Hasan Shah / BFI & GLAA)
 * 1980: Jozef (dir. Jerzy Kaszubowski / National Film School) and The Tom Machine (dir. Paul Bamborough / National Film School)

1970s

 * 1979: Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack (dir. Don Haworth / BBC Television)
 * 1978: Begging the Ring (dir. Colin Gregg / Dartington Arts Society)
 * 1977: Tom Phillips (dir. David Rowan / Arts Council of Great Britain)
 * 1976: Devices and Desires (dir. Giles Foster / Ken McMullen Productions)
 * 1975: Drive Carefully Darling (dir. John Krish / Department of Environment)
 * 1974: Butterfly Ball (dir. Lee Mishkin / Halas and Batchelor)
 * 1973: Like Other People (dir. Paul Morrison / Spastics Society & Mental Health)
 * 1972: The Wind in the Wires (dir. John Edwards / Buff Films / Rothmans). - first year of bust as trophy.
 * 1971: A Future for the Past (Peter Bradford / Civic Trust). - as winner of the BFFS Short Film Award.

Grierson Award at the BFI London Film Festival
Since 2005 an award has been given to the best documentary shown at the annual BFI London Film Festival. The awards from 2005–2016 were featured on the Trust's previous website, however it is unclear if the Trust has had any input into the selection of the winner since 2017. The winners are:


 * 2005: Workingman's Death, dir. Michael Glawogger.
 * 2006: Thin, dir. Lauren Greenfield.
 * 2007: The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories, dir. Andrey Paounov.
 * 2008: Victoire Terminus, dir. Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret.
 * 2009: Defamation, dir. Yoav Shamir.


 * 2010: Armadillo, dir. Janus Metz.
 * 2011: Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life, dir. Werner Herzog.
 * 2012: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, dir. Alex Gibney.
 * 2013: My Fathers, My Mother and Me, dir. Paul-Julien Robert.
 * 2014: Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait, dir. Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan.
 * 2015: Sherpa, dir. Jennifer Peedom.
 * 2016: Starless Dreams, dir. Mehrdad Oskouei.
 * 2017: Kingdom of Us, dir. Lucy Cohen.
 * 2018: What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?, dir. Roberto Minervini.
 * 2019: White Riot, dir. Rubika Shah.
 * 2020: The Painter and the Thief, dir. Benjamin Ree.
 * 2021: Becoming Cousteau, dir. Liz Garbus.
 * 2022: All That Breathes, dir. Shaunak Sen.
 * 2023: Bye Bye Tiberias, dir. Lina Soualem.

Grierson: Sheffields
During the tenure of Jenny Barraclough as Trust chair, The Grierson Trust working in conjunction with Sheffield DocFest launched Grierson: Sheffields. Three awards were sponsored by the Trust: The Green Award, which recognised documentaries exploring environmental issues or that had made a contribution to the climate change debate; The Innovation Award, for documentaries that exhibited innovation in format, style, technique or content and The Youth Jury Award. The Youth Jury was a panel of 16- to 21-year-olds that were selected by Channel 4 and 4Talent. After 2009, the awards continued to be bestowed but no longer had any association with The Grierson Trust.

2007 (inaugural Grierson: Sheffields)

 * The Green Award: An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim.
 * The Innovation Award: Talk To Me, dir. Mark Craig.
 * The Youth Jury Award: We Are Together, dir. Paul Taylor. Commended: Baghdad High.

2008 (2nd Grierson: Sheffields)

 * The Green Award: The Age of Stupid, dir. Franny Armstrong.
 * The Innovation Award: Seven Sins of England, dir. Joseph Bullman.
 * The Youth Jury Award: The Order of Myths, dir. Margaret Brown.

2009 (3rd Grierson: Sheffields)

 * The Green Award: The Blood of the Rose, dir. Henry Singer.
 * The Innovation Award: LoopLoop, dir. Patrick Bergeron. Commended: The Big Issue. dir. Samuel Bollendorff, Olivia Colo.
 * The Youth Jury Award: Sons of Cuba, dir. Andrew Lang.