The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is one of the most prestigious awards for documentary films.

Winners

Following the Academy's practice, films are listed by the "award year", which is also the year in which the film was released under the Academy's rules for eligibility. Due to the limited nature of documentary distribution, a film may be released in different years in different venues, sometimes years after production is complete.

For 1942 there was one Documentary category and four winners

• 1942
  • Battle of Midway
  • Kokoda Front Line
  • Moscow Strikes Back
  • Prelude To War

From 1943 there were two separate documentary categories

• 1943 - Desert Victory
• 1944 - The Fighting Lady
• 1945 - The True Glory
• 1946 - none given
• 1947 - Design for Death
• 1948 - The Secret Land
• 1949 - Daybreak in Udi
• 1950 - The Titan: Story of Michelangelo
• 1951 - Kon-Tiki
• 1952 - The Sea Around Us
• 1953 - The Living Desert
• 1954 - The Vanishing Prairie
• 1955 - Helen Keller in Her Story
• 1956 - The Silent World
• 1957 - Albert Schweitzer
• 1958 - White Wilderness
• 1959 - Serengeti Shall Not Die
• 1960 - The Horse with the Flying Tail
• 1961 - Sky Above and Mud Beneath
• 1962 - Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler
• 1963 - Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel With the World
• 1964 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau's World Without Sun
• 1965 - The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
• 1966 - The War Game
• 1967 - The Anderson Platoon
• 1968 - Journey Into Self Note: At the 41st Awards ceremony on April 14, 1969, Young Americans was announced as the winner of the Documentary Feature Oscar. On May 7, 1969, the film was declared ineligible after it was revealed that the film had played in October of 1967, therefore ineligible for a 1968 Award. The first runner-up, Journey into Self was awarded the statuette on May 8, 1969.
• 1969 - Arthur Rubinstein - The Love of Life
• 1970 - Woodstock
• 1971 - The Hellstrom Chronicle
• 1972 - Marjoe
• 1973 - The Great American Cowboy
• 1974 - Hearts and Minds
• 1975 - The Man Who Skied Down Everest
• 1976 - Harlan County, U.S.A.
• 1977 - Who Are the Debolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
• 1978 - Scared Straight!
• 1979 - Best Boy
• 1980 - From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China
• 1981 - Genocide
• 1982 - Just Another Missing Kid
• 1983 - He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'
• 1984 - The Times of Harvey Milk
• 1985 - Broken Rainbow
• 1986 - (tie):
  • Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got
  • Down and Out in America
• 1987 - The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table
• 1988 - Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
• 1989 - Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
• 1990 - American Dream
• 1991 - In the Shadow of the Stars
• 1992 - The Panama Deception
• 1993 - I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School
• 1994 - Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
• 1995 - Anne Frank Remembered
• 1996 - When We Were Kings
• 1997 - The Long Way Home
• 1998 - The Last Days
• 1999 - One Day in September
• 2000 - Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
• 2001 - Murder on a Saturday Morning
• 2002 - Bowling for Columbine
  • Daughter From Danang
  • Le Peuple migrateur
  • Prisoner of Paradise
  • Spellbound

• 2003 - The Fog of War
  • Balseros
  • Capturing the Friedmans
  • My Architect
  • The Weather Underground

• 2004 Nominations (This line will be replaced with the winner after the awards program)
  • Born into Brothels – Ross Kauffman, Zana Briski
  • The Story of the Weeping Camel – Luigi Falorni, Byambasuren Davaa
  • Super Size Me – Morgan Spurlock
  • Tupac: Resurrection – Lauren Lazin, Karolyn Ali
  • Twist of Faith – Kirby Dick, Eddie Schmidt