The Critics Choice Association (CCA) has named legendary documentarian Ken Burns the recipient of the Critics Choice Impact Award. The prestigious award recognizes documentarians whose work has sparked meaningful dialogue, inspired action, and driven tangible societal change – an achievement that Burns’s extraordinary career exemplifies.
The CCA will present the Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award) to visionary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Named in honor of D.A. Pennebaker, a trailblazer in the field, the award presented by Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s widow and partner, celebrates filmmakers whose careers have made a profound and lasting contribution to the art of the documentary.
Celebrating a Decade of Honoring Excellence in Nonfiction Filmmaking
These honors, along with awards in 18 categories, will be presented at the 10th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards gala on Sunday, November 9, 2025, at 7:00 PM ET at The Edison Ballroom in New York City.
Hosted by award-winning actor, writer, and producer Aasif Mandvi, the milestone event will bring together leading filmmakers, industry professionals, and special guests for an evening celebrating excellence in documentary filmmaking. Nominations are determined by the voting of qualified CCA members with expertise in the documentary field.
10th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards Timeline:
- Submissions Opened: Monday, July 7, 2025
- Final Deadline for Submissions: Friday, September 19, 2025
- Nominations Announced: Monday, October 20, 2025
- Critics Choice Documentary Awards Gala: Sunday, November 9, 2025
Submissions are currently being accepted for the awards, celebrating the finest achievements of this year’s outstanding documentaries released in theaters, on TV, and across major digital platforms.
“As we mark our tenth year of celebrating excellence in nonfiction film and television, we are honored to recognize these extraordinary artists who reflect the breadth of the documentary form,” said Christopher Campbell, VP, Documentary at the Critics Choice Association. “Ken Burns continues to inspire, educate, and enlighten with The American Revolution, his latest historical epic, while Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady carry forward the tradition of direct cinema with their own distinctive vision, most recently in their feature Folktales.”
Eligible documentaries must have premiered between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Documentaries should have premiered theatrically (or be scheduled to premiere) during that period, or been made available via broadcast, cable, or digital services.
Honorees and Host
Ken Burns has transformed the art of documentary filmmaking, crafting landmark works that have shaped our understanding of history, culture, and the American experience.
Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Burns has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Prohibition, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, The Vietnam War, Country Music, The U.S. and the Holocaust, The American Buffalo, and most recently, Leonardo da Vinci. Future film projects include The American Revolution, Emancipation to Exodus, and LBJ & the Great Society, among others.
Burns’ films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including seventeen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Oscar nominations. In September 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Burns was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November 2022, he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Academy Award-nominated directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, known for their fearless approach to storytelling and their ability to capture the human experience with depth and nuance, have created a body of work that resonates far beyond the screen.
Ewing and Grady are the co-directors of Jesus Camp (Academy Award nominee), The Boys of Baraka (Emmy nominee), 12th & Delaware (Peabody Award winner), Detropia (Emmy winner), Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, One of Us, Love Fraud, and Endangered. Their latest feature, Folktales, premiered at Sundance 2025 and is being released theatrically by Magnolia Pictures. They are the co-owners of the Brooklyn-based production company Loki Films.
Aasif Mandvi is an award-winning actor, writer, and producer currently starring in the Paramount+/Netflix drama Evil and the Channel 4/Hulu comedy This Way Up. Mandvi is best known for his decade-long tenure as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His film and TV credits include Spider-Man 2, Million Dollar Arm, The Proposal, and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. He will next star in Peacock’s The Miniature Wife and AMC’s The Terror: Devil in Silver. A decorated theater actor, Mandvi received an Obie Award for Sakina’s Restaurant and a Lucille Lortel nomination for Disgraced.
At the 9th annual CCDA event, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Will & Harper tied for the top award of the evening, Best Documentary Feature. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story swept all six of its nominated categories, including wins for Best Director, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Biographical Documentary.
Award Categories:
- Best Documentary Feature
- Best Director
- Best First Documentary Feature
- Best True Crime Documentary
- Best Sports Documentary
- Best Political Documentary
- Best Music Documentary
- Best Archival Documentary
- Best Science/Nature Documentary
- Best Historical Documentary
- Best Biographical Documentary
- Best Ongoing Documentary Series
- Best Limited Documentary Series
- Best Cinematography
- Best Editing
- Best Music Score
- Best Narration
- Best Short Documentary
National Geographic Documentary Films returns as a Catalyst Sponsor for the event.
About the Critics Choice Awards
The Critics Choice Documentary Awards are an offshoot of the Critics Choice Awards, which are bestowed annually by the CCA to honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement. Historically, the Critics Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of Academy Award nominations.
The 31st annual Critics Choice Awards ceremony will be held on January 4, 2026, airing live on E! and USA Network.
Social Media:
- Hashtag: #criticschoice
- Facebook: /CriticsChoiceAwards
- Instagram: @criticschoice
- Twitter/X: @criticschoice
About the Critics Choice Association (CCA)
The Critics Choice Association is the largest critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 600 media critics and entertainment journalists. It was established in 2019 with the formal merger of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, recognizing the intersection between film, television, and streaming content.
To stream the ceremony and learn more about the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, visit CriticsChoice.com. The full list of nominees and winners will also be available on the site.
