The Grierson Awards celebrate innovative and exciting new documentary films. The awards have been set up by the Grierson Trust to commemorate the life and work of world-renowned documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The awards were first set up in 1972 and have run annually. In 2000 the Grierson Trust forged a link with the UK Film Council in order to expand the awards and add more prestige to the awards. The awards have grown in stature and recognition over the years and now are "more important (than ever). They have an impressive list engaging with a broad palette of styles and subjects from disabled people looking for love to asylums, Russian billionaires and global warming."
John Grierson is widely considered to be the godfather of documentary film, 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.
Sheffield Doc/Fest works in conjunction with The Grierson Trust to present Grierson: Sheffield. There are three awards presented by the Grierson Trust, the Green Award, which recognises a documentary exploring environmental issues or that has made a contribution to the climate change debate. The Innovation Award, a documentary that exhibits innovation in format, style, technique or content and The Youth Jury Award. The Youth Jury is a panel of 16- to 21-year-olds that are selected by Channel 4 and 4Talent.
The Grierson Awards are presented annually in nine categories:
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue
Best Documentary on the Arts
Best Historical Documentary
Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World
The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary
Best Drama Documentary
Best International Cinema Documentary
Best Newcomer
Trustees' Award
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Law of the Jungle, dir: Michael Christoffersen, Hans La Cour
Best Cinema Documentary - The House I Live In, dir: Eugene Jarecki
The Trustees’ Award - John Battsek
Best Documentary Newcomer - High Tech, Low Life, dir: Steve Maing
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Hell and Back Again, dir: Danfung Dennis
Best Cinema Documentary - Bobby Fischer Against the World, dir: Liz Garbus
The Trustees’ Award - Kevin Macdonald'
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Secret Iraq - The Insurgency, dir: Sam Collyns
Best Documentary on the Arts - Bird on a Wire, dir: Tony Palmer
Best Historical Documentary - "Fire in Babylon, dir: Stevan Riley
Best Cinema Documentary - The Arbor, dir: Clio Barnard
The Trustees’ Award - John Pilger
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Moving to Mars, dir: Mat Whitecross
Best Documentary on the Arts - Arena: T.S. Eliot, dir: Adam Low
Best Historical Documentary - "Requiem for Detroit, dir: Julien Temple
The Award for Most Entertaining Documentary - Exit Through the Gift Shop, dir: Banksy
Best Cinema Documentary - Mugabe and the White African, dir: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Afghan Star, dir: Havana Marking
Best Documentary on the Arts - The Mona Lisa Curse, dir: Mandy Chang
Best Historical Documentary - "Thriller in Manila, dir: John Dower
The Award for Most Entertaining Documentary - The Yes Men: Fix the World, dir: Andy Bichibaum, Mike Bonnano
Best Cinema Documentary - Burma VJ, dir: Anders Østergaard
Trustees' Award - Norma Percy
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - The Lie of the Land, dir: Molly Dineen
Best Documentary on the Arts - Here's Jonny, dir: Adam Lavis, William Hood, Katrina Mansoor
Best Historical Documentary - 1983 – The Brink of Apocalypse, dir: Henry Chancellor
The Award for Most Entertaining Documentary - Please Vote for Me, dir: Weijun Chen, Don Edkins, Mette Heide
Best Drama Documentary - Battle for Haditha, dir: Nick Broomfield
Best Cinema Documentary - Joy Division, dir: Grant Gee
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Rain In My Heart, dir: Paul Watson
Best Documentary on the Arts - Imagine...Who Cares About Art?, dir: Sam Hobkinson
Best Historical Documentary - Hungary 1956: Our Revolution, dir: Mark Kidel
Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World - Monkeys, Rats and Me, dir: Adam Wishart
The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary - Ray Gosling OAP, dir: Amanda Reilly
Best Drama Documentary - Consent, dir: Katie Baliff
Best International Cinema Documentary - Anatomy Of A Crime, dir: Steph Atkinson
Best Newcomer - Deep Water, dir: Sonja Linden
Trustees' Award - Paul Watson
Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue - Asylum, dir: Peter Gordon
Best Documentary on the Arts - Take That For The Record, dir: David Notman-Watt
Best Historical Documentary - How Vietnam Was Lost (Two Days In October), dir: Robert Kenner
Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World - The Natural World: The Queen Of Trees, dir: Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble
The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary - Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: "Prog 3 - Momma Charris", dir: Christine Hall
Best Drama Documentary - The Year London Blew Up, dir: Edmund Coulthard
Best International Cinema Documentary - Storyville: Darwin's Nightmare, dir: Hubert Sauper
Best Newcomer - Disabled and Looking For Love, dir: Clare Richards
Trustees' Award - Mike Salisbury
