This is a list of films that have received an Oscar and nomination for best documentary short subject.

• 1941 - Churchill's Island - National Film Board of Canada
• 1942 - none given
• 1943 - December 7th - United States Navy
• 1944 - With the Marines at Tarawa -- United States Marine Corps
• 1945 - Hitler Lives? - Gordon Hollingshead , Producer
• 1946 - Seeds of Destiny - United States Department of War
• 1947 - First Steps - United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information
• 1948 - Toward Independence - United States Army
• 1949 - (tie):
  • A Chance To Live - Richard de Rochemont , Producer
  • So Much for So Little - Edward Selzer, Producer
• 1950 - Why Korea? - Edmund Reek , Producer
• 1951 - Benjy - 'Made by Fred Zinnemann with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital '
• 1952 - Neighbours - Norman McLaren, Producer
• 1953 - The Alaskan Eskimo - Walt Disney, Producer
• 1954 - Thursday's Children - World Wide Pictures and Morse Films
• 1955 - Men against the Arctic - Walt Disney, Producer
• 1956 - The True Story of the Civil War - Louis Clyde Stoumen , Producer
• 1957 - none given
• 1958 - Ama Girls - Ben Sharpsteen , Producer
• 1959 - Glass - Bert Haanstra , Producer
• 1960 - Giuseppina - James Hill , Producer
• 1961 - Project Hope - Frank P. Bibas , Producer
• 1962 - Dylan Thomas - Jack Howells , Producer
• 1963 - Chagall - Simon Schiffrin , Producer
• 1964 - Nine from Little Rock - Charles Guggenheim , Producer
• 1965 - To Be Alive! - Francis Thompson, Producer
• 1966 - A Year Toward Tomorrow - Edmond A. Levy , Producer
• 1967 - The Redwoods - Mark Harris and Trevor Greenwood , Producers
• 1968 - Why Man Creates - Saul Bass, Producer
• 1969 - Czechoslovakia 1968 - Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco , Producers
• 1970 - Interviews with My Lai Veterans - Joseph Strick, Producer
• 1971 - Sentinels of Silence - Manuel Arango and Robert Amram , Producers
• 1972 - This Tiny World - Charles Huguenot van der Linden and Martina Huguenot van der Linden , Producers
• 1973 - - Julian Krainin and DeWitt L. Sage, Jr. , Producers
• 1974 - Don't - Robin Lehman , Producer
• 1975 - The End of the Game - Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman , Producers
• 1976 - Number Our Days - Lynne Littman, Producer
• 1977 - Gravity Is My Enemy - John Joseph and Jan Stussy , Producers
• 1978 - The Flight of the Gossamer Condor - Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd , Producers
• 1979 - - Saul J. Turell , Producer
• 1980 - - Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue , Producer
• 1981 - Close Harmony - Nigel Noble , Producer
• 1982 - If You Love This Planet - Edward Le Lorrain and Terri Nash , Producers
• 1983 - - Cynthia Scott and Adam Symansky , Producers
• 1984 - The Stone Carvers - Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner , Producers
• 1985 - - David Goodman , Producer
• 1986 - Women--for America, for the World - Vivienne Verdon-Roe , Producer
• 1987 - Young at Heart - Sue Marx and Pamela Conn , Producers
• 1988 - You Don't Have to Die - William Guttentag and Malcolm Clarke , Producers
• 1989 - The Johnstown Flood - Charles Guggenheim , Producer
• 1990 - Days of Waiting - Steven Okazaki , Producer
• 1991 - - Debra Chasnoff , Producer
• 1992 - Educating Peter - Thomas C. Goodwin and Gerardine Wurzburg
• 1993 - Defending Our Lives - Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich
• 1994 - A Time for Justice - Charles Guggenheim
• 1995 - One Survivor Remembers - Kary Antholis
• 1996 - - Jessica Yu director, producer, writer and editor
• 2000 - Big Mama - Tracy Seretean
• 2001 - Thoth - Sarah Kernochan and Lynn Appelle
• 2002 - Twin Towers - Bill Guttentag , Robert David Port , Robert Port directors
  • The Collector of Bedford Street - Welcome Change Productions - Alice Elliott producer and director
  • - Tell the Truth Pictures - Robert Hudson producer - Robert Houston director
  • Why Can't We Be a Family Again? - Roger Weisberg , Murray Nossel directors

• 2003 - Chernobyl Heart - Maryann DeLeo
  • Asylum - Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker
  • Ferry Tales - Katja Esson

• 2004 – Robert Hudson and Bobby Houston
  • Autism Is a World – Gerardine Wurzburg
  • The Children of Leningradsky – Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celinski
  • Hardwood – Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young
  • Sister Rose’s Passion – Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer