LOscar al millor curtmetratge documental és un premi que atorga l'Acadèmia de Cinema de Hollywood en una cerimònia anual, en reconeixement del millor curtmetratge documental. El premi es va crear en l'edició de 1941 dels premis.
L'Acadèmia de les Arts i les Ciències Cinematogràfiques (AMPAS) va reglar que un documental de temàtica curta es defineix com una pel·lícula de no ficció, ja sigui sobre fets reals o emprant recreacions parcials, imatges d'arxiu, fotografies, animació, stop-motion o altres tècniques, però posant èmfasi en els fets per sobre de la ficció. El temps d'execució no pot superar els quaranta minuts i s'ha de publicar durant un període especial d'elegibilitat que generalment va entre el mes d'octubre de l'any anterior i finalitza el setembre de l'any d'adjudicació, de manera que aquest període és diferent de la majoria de categories ja que només inclouen estrenes entre gener i desembre de l'any del premi. Addicionalment, la pel·lícula ha de tenir una narració o diàleg principalment en anglès o subtítols en anglès, i ha de ser una obra totalment original. Les edicions parcials d'obres més grans i episodi de pel·lícules en sèrie no poden ser candidates.
Guanyadors i nominats Dècada de 1940 Any Pel·lícula Nominats 1941 Churchill's Island National Film Board of Canada Adventure in the Bronx Film Associates Bomber United States Office for Emergency Management Film Unit Christmas Under Fire British Ministry of Information Letter from Home British Ministry of Information Life of a Thoroughbred Truman Talley Norway in Revolt The March of Time A Place to Live Philadelphia Housing Association Russian Soil Amkino Soldiers of the Sky Truman Talley Warclouds in the Pacific National Film Board of Canada 1942 Curtmetratge i documental van competir combinats en la categoria de millor documental. 1943 December 7th United States Navy Children of Mars RKO Radio Plan for Destruction Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Swedes in America United States Office of War Information Overseas Motion Picture Bureau To the People of the United States Walter Wanger Tomorrow We Fly United States Navy Bureau of Aeronautics Youth in Crisis The March of Time 1944 With the Marines at Tarawa United States Marine Corps Hymn of the Nations United States Office of War Information Overseas Motion Picture Bureau New Americans RKO Radio 1945 Hitler Lives? Gordon Hollingshead Library of Congress United States Office of War Information Overseas Motion Picture Bureau To the Shores of Iwo Jima United States Marine Corps 1946 Seeds of Destiny United States Department of War Atomic Power The March of Time Life at the Zoo Artkino Paramount News Issue #37 (Twentieth Anniversary Issue! 1927.....1947) Paramount Pictures Traffic with the Devil Herbert Morgan 1947 First Steps United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information Passport to Nowhere Frederic Ullman Jr. School in the Mailbox Australian News & Information Bureau 1948 Toward Independence United States Army Heart to Heart Herbert Morgan Operation Vittles United States Army Air Force 1949 A Chance to Live Richard de Rochemont So Much for So Little Edward Selzer 1848 French Cinema General Cooperative The Rising Tide St. Francis-Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Dècada de 1950 Any Pel·lícula Nominats 1950 Why Korea? Edmund Reek The Fight: Science Against Cancer Guy Glover The Stairs Film Documents, Inc. 1951 Benjy Fred Zinnemann, Paramount Pictures Corporation One Who Came Back Owen Crump, United States Department of Defense, Association of Motion Picture Producers The Seeing Eye Gordon Hollingshead 1952 Neighbours Norman McLaren Devil Take Us Herbert Morgan The Garden Spider (Epeira Diadema) Alberto Ancilotto Man Alive! Stephen Bosustow 1953 The Alaskan Eskimo Walt Disney The Living City John Barnes Operation Blue Jay United States Army Signal Corps They Planted a Stone James Carr The Word John Healy i John Adams 1954 Thursday's Children World Wide Pictures i Morse Films Jet Carrier Otto Lang Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait Morrie Roizman 1955 Men Against the Arctic Walt Disney The Battle of Gettysburg Dore Schary The Face of Lincoln Wilbur T. Blume 1956 The True Story of the Civil War Louis Clyde Stoumen A City Decides Charles Guggenheim & Associates, Inc. The Dark Wave John Healy The House Without a Name Valentine Davies Man in Space Ward Kimball 1957 Premi no atorgat 1958 Ama Girls Ben Sharpsteen Employees Only Kenneth G. Brown Journey into Spring Ian Ferguson The Living Stone Tom Daly Overture Thorold Dickinson 1959 Glass Bert Haanstra Donald in Mathmagic Land Walt Disney From Generation to Generation Edward F. Cullen
Dècada de 1960 Any Pel·lícula Nominats 1960 Giuseppina James Hill Beyond Silence United States Information Agency A City Called Copenhagen Statens Filmcentral and The Danish Government Film Office George Grosz' Interregnum Charles Carey, Altina Carey Universe Colin Low 1961 Project Hope Frank P. Bibas Breaking the Language Barrier United States Air Force Cradle of Genius Jim O'Connor, Tom Hayes Kahl Dido-Film-GmbH L'Uomo in Grigio (The Man in Gray) Benedetto Benedetti 1962 Dylan Thomas Jack Howells The John Glenn Story William L. Hendricks The Road to the Wall Robert Saudek 1963 Chagall Simon Schiffrin The Five Cities of June George Stevens Jr. The Spirit of America Algernon G. Walker Thirty Million Letters Edgar Anstey To Live Again Mel London 1964 Nine from Little Rock Charles Guggenheim 140 Days Under the World Geoffrey Scott, Oxley Hughan Breaking the Habit Henry Jacobs, John Korty Children Without Charles Guggenheim Kenojuak National Film Board of Canada 1965 To Be Alive! Francis Thompson Mural on Our Street Kirk Smallman Overture Mafilm Productions Point of View Vision Associates Productions Yeats Country Patrick Carey, Joe Mendoza 1966 A Year Toward Tomorrow Edmond A. Levy Adolescence Marin Karmitz, Vladimir Forgency Cowboy Michael Ahnemann, Gary Schlosser The Odds Against Lee R. Bobker, Helen Kristt Radin Saint Matthew Passion Mafilm Studio 1967 The Redwoods Mark Jonathan Harris, Trevor Greenwood Monument to the Dream Charles Guggenheim A Place to Stand Christopher Chapman See You at the Pillar Robert Fitchett While I Run This Race Carl V. Ragsdale 1968 Why Man Creates Saul Bass The House That Ananda Built Fali Bilimoria The Revolving Door Lee R. Bobker A Space to Grow Thomas P. Kelly Jr. A Way Out of the Wilderness Dan E. Weisburd 1969 Czechoslovakia 1968 Denis Sanders, Robert M. Fresco An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer Donald Wrye Jenny Is a Good Thing Joan Horvath Leo Beuerman Arthur H. Wolf, Russell A. Mosser The Magic Machines Joan Keller Stern
Dècada de 1970 Any Pel·lícula Nominats 1970 Interviews with My Lai Veterans Joseph Strick The Gifts Robert McBride A Long Way from Nowhere Bob Aller Oisín Patrick Carey, Vivien Carey Time Is Running Out Horst Dallmayr, Robert Ménégoz 1971 Centinelas del silencio Manuel Arango, Robert Amram Adventures in Perception Han van Gelder Art Is... Julian Krainin, DeWitt L. Sage Jr. The Numbers Start with the River Donald Wrye Somebody Waiting Hal Riney, Dick Snider, Sherwood Omens 1972 This Tiny World Charles Huguenot van der Linden, Martina Huguenot van der Linden Hundertwasser's Rainy Day Peter Schamoni K-Z Giorgio Treves Selling Out Tadeusz Jaworski The Tide of Traffic Humphrey Swingler 1973 Princeton: A Search for Answers Julian Krainin, DeWitt Sage Background Carmen D'Avino Paisti Ag Obair Louis Marcus Christo's Valley Curtain Albert Maysles, David Maysles Four Stones for Kanemitsu Terry Sanders, June Wayne 1974 Don't Robin Lehman City Out of Wilderness Francis Thompson Exploratorium Jon Boorstin John Muir's High Sierra Dewitt Jones, Lesley Foster Naked Yoga Ronald S. Kass, Mervyn Lloyd 1975 The End of the Game Claire Wilbur, Robin Lehman Arthur and Lillie Jon Else, Steven Kovacs, Kristine Samuelson Millions of Years Ahead of Man Manfred Baier Probes in Space George V. Casey Whistling Smith Barrie Howells, Michael Scott 1976 Number Our Days Lynne Littman, Barbara Myerhoff American Shoeshine Sparky Greene Blackwood Tony Ianzelo, Andy Thomson The End of the Road John Armstrong Universe Lester Novros 1977 Gravity Is My Enemy John C. Joseph, Jan Stussy Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country Moctesuma Esparza First Edition Helen Whitney, DeWitt L. Sage Jr. Of Time, Tombs and Treasures James R. Messenger, Paul N. Raimondi The Shetland Experience Douglas Gordon 1978 The Flight of the Gossamer Condor Jacqueline Phillips Shedd, Ben Shedd The Divided Trail: A Native American Odyssey Jerry Aronson An Encounter with Faces K.K. Kapil Goodnight Miss Ann August Cinquegrana Squires of San Quentin J. Gary Mitchell 1979 Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist Saul J. Turell Dae Risto Teofilovski Koryo Celadon Donald A. Connolly, James R. Messenger Nails Phillip Borsos Remember Me Dick Young
Dècada de 1980 Any Pel·lícula Nominats 1980 Karl Hess: Toward Liberty Roland Hallé, Peter Ladue Don't Mess with Bill John Watson, Pen Densham The Eruption of Mount St. Helens George Casey It's the Same World Dick Young Luther Metke at 94 Richard Hawkins, Jorge Preloran 1981 Close Harmony Nigel Noble Americas in Transition Obie Benz Journey for Survival Dick Young See What I Say Linda Chapman, Pam LeBlanc, Freddi Stevens Urge to Build Roland Hallé, John Hoover 1982 If You Love This Planet Edward Le Lorrain, Terre Nash Gods of Metal Robert Richter The Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America Charles Guggenheim, Werner Schumann To Live or Let Die Freida Lee Mock Traveling Hopefully John G. Avildsen 1983 Flamenco at 5:15 Cynthia Scott, Adam Symansky In the Nuclear Shadow: What Can the Children Tell Us? Vivienne Verdon-Roe, Eric Thiermann Sewing Woman Arthur Dong Spaces: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph Robert Eisenhardt You Are Free (Ihr Zent Frei) Dea Brokman, Ilene Landis 1984 The Stone Carvers Marjorie Hunt, Paul Wagner The Children of Soong Ching Ling Gary Bush, Paul T.K. Lin Code Gray: Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing Ben Achtenberg, Joan Sawyer The Garden of Eden Lawrence R. Hott, Roger M. Sherman Recollections of Pavlovsk Irina Kalinina 1985 Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements David Goodman The Courage to Care Robert Gardner Keats and His Nightingale: A Blind Date Michael Crowley, James Wolpaw Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra Barbara Willis Sweete The Wizard of the Strings Alan Edelstein 1986 Women – for America, for the World Vivienne Verdon-Roe Debonair Dancers Alison Nigh-Strelich The Masters of Disaster Sonya Friedman Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse Thomas L. Neff, Madeline Bell Sam Aaron D. Weisblatt 1987 Young at Heart Sue Marx, Pamela Conn Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller Deborah Dickson In the Wee Wee Hours... Dr. Frank Daniel, Izak Ben-Meir Language Says It All Megan Williams Silver into Gold Lynn Mueller 1988 You Don't Have to Die Malcolm Clarke, Bill Guttentag The Children's Storefront Karen Goodman Family Gathering Lise Yasui, Ann Tegnell Gang Cops Thomas B. Fleming, Daniel J. Marks Portrait of Imogen Nancy Hale, Meg Partridge 1989 The Johnstown Flood Charles Guggenheim Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9 David Petersen Yad Vashem: Preserving the Past to Ensure the Future Ray Errol Fox
Dècada de 1990 Any Pel·lícula Nominats 1990 Days of Waiting Steven Okazaki Burning Down Tomorrow Kit Thomas Chimps: So Like Us Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon Journey Into Life: The World of the Unborn Derek Bromhall Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember Freida Lee Mock, Terry Sanders 1991 Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment Debra Chasnoff Birdnesters of Thailand (Shadow Hunters) Éric Valli, Alain Majani A Little Vicious Immy Humes The Mark of the Maker David McGowan Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers Bill Couturié, Bernard Edelman 1992 Educating Peter Thomas C. Goodwin, Gerardine Wurzburg At the Edge of Conquest: The Journey of Chief Wai-Wai Geoffrey O'Connor Beyond Imagining: Margaret Anderson and the 'Little Review || Wendy L. Weinberg |-