| Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Documentary Script – Current Events | |
| Awarded For: | Outstanding Writing in Documentaries – Current Events |
| Presenter: | Writers Guild of America |
| Country: | United States |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Holder: | Rick Young for "The Healthcare Divide" (Frontline) - 2021 |
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.
| Year | Program | Episode | Writer(s) | Network | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontline | "Apartheid Part 5: 1987" | Irv Drasnin | PBS | ||
| Secret Intelligence | Joseph Angier and Blaine Baggett | PBS | |||
| Year | Program | Episode | Writer(s) | Network | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontline | "Seven Days in Bensonhurst" | Thomas Lennon and Shelby Steele | PBS | ||
| Power in the Pacific | Joseph Angier and Carl Byker | PBS | |||
| No award given | |||||
| Frontline | "The Choice '92" | Richard Ben Gramer, Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein | PBS | ||
| No award given | |||||
| 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 | ||
| "Currents of Fear" | Jon Palfreman | ||||
| 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 | ||
| Dateline NBC | "Why Can't We Live Together?" | Craig Leake | NBC | [2] | |
| Frontline | "The Choice 1996" | Helen Whitney and Jane Barnes | PBS | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 | ||
| Year | Program | Episode | Writer(s) | Network | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
| "The Killer at Thurston High" | Michael J. Kirk and Peter J. Boyer | ||||
| Frontline | "Drug Wars: Part 2" | Lowell Bergman, Kenneth Levism, Doug Hamilton and Oriana Zill | PBS | [6] | |
| Frontline | "Drug Wars, Part 1" | Martin Smith, Brooke Runnette and Oriana Zill | PBS | ||
| 9/11 | Tom Forman and Greg Kandra | CBS | [7] | ||
| Frontline | "The Man Who Knew" | Michael Kirk | PBS | ||
| "Rollover: The Hidden Story of the SUV" | Marc Shaffer and Barak Goodman | ||||
| Nova | "Bioterror" | Matthew Collins | |||
| Frontline | "Truth, War and Consequences" | Martin Smith | PBS | [8] | |
| Frontline | "The War Behind Closed Doors" | Michael Kirk | PBS | ||
| Frontline | "From China With Love" | Michael Kirk | PBS | [9] | |
| Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style | "P.O.V." | Paul Stekler | PBS | ||
| Frontline | "The Torture Question" | Edward Grey | PBS | [10] | |
| Someone's Watching | Michael Kirk | PBS | |||
| Frontline | "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" | Hedrick Smith | |||
| "The Soldier's Heart" | Raney Aronson | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | |||
| "The Medicated Child" | Marcela Gaviria | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Year | Program | Episode | Writer(s) | Network | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | |||
| 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 | ||||
| Frontline | "Egypt in Crisis" | Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith | PBS | [18] | |
| Frontline | "Cliffhanger" | Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser | PBS | ||
| 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 | ||
| "Losing Iraq" | Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser | ||||
| Frontline | "American Terrorist" | Thomas Jennings | PBS | [20] | |
| Frontline | "Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA" | Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser | PBS | ||
| Frontline | "The Choice 2016" | Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser | PBS | [21] | |
| "Inside Assad's Syria" | Martin Smith | ||||
| Frontline | "Chasing Heroin" | Marcela Gaviria | PBS | ||
| Frontline | "Confronting ISIS" | Martin Smith | PBS | [22] | |
| Unseen Enemy | Janet Tobias | CNN | |||
| Frontline | "Poverty, Politics and Profit" | Rick Young | PBS | ||
| 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 | |||
| "The Gang Crackdown" | Marcela Gaviria | ||||
| Frontline | "Trump's Trade War" | Marcela Gaviria | PBS | [24] | |
| Frontline | "Coal's Deadly Dust" | Elaine McMillion Sheldon | PBS | ||
| "The Mueller Investigation" | Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser | ||||
| Year | Program | Episode | Writer(s) | Network | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
| "Whose Vote Counts" | Jelani Cobb, June Cross and Tom Jennings | ||||
| Agents of Chaos | "Part I" | Alex Gibney and Michael J. Palmer | HBO | ||
| Frontline | "The Healthcare Divide" | Rick Young | PBS | [26] | |
| Frontline | "The Jihadist" | Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria | PBS | ||