This annual national prize, now in its 2nd year, is designed to provide finishing funds, including outreach and marketing, for feature length U.S. historical documentaries in the tradition of Ken Burns. Appropriate submissions are rough or fine cuts of films focusing on U.S. history that use inclusive voices, reflect the highest standards of accuracy and original research, and are driven by compelling storytelling. The goal of this annual award is to encourage and support quality U.S. history documentary films so that a greater number will be seen by a wider audience.

All submissions meeting the eligibility requirement will be carefully reviewed and considered, with the finalists selected by a national jury comprised of leading documentary filmmakers and historians.  The winner will be selected by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, in consultation with Ken Burns.

Award Details

Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film is a $200,000 cash award presented annually to an independent filmmaker for post-production and finishing costs, including outreach and marketing, associated with an original, feature-length U.S. historical documentary in the tradition of Ken Burns.

A $50,000 cash prize will be awarded to the runner-up and $25,000 will be awarded to 3-4 finalists.

Films must reflect the highest standards of historical research, balance, accuracy, and dramatic storytelling.

Prize winners will be recognized by Ken Burns and the Librarian of Congress at the Virtual Awards Ceremony on October 20th, 2020.

In 2019, The Better Angels Society, in partnership with the Library of Congress and thanks to a generous gift from Better Angels Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine, launched the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. This national prize provides finishing funds, including support for outreach and marketing, to one winning feature-length American history documentary in the tradition of Ken Burns each year. The prize is designed to honor filmmakers with projects that use inclusive voices, reflect the highest standards of accuracy and original research, and are driven by compelling storytelling. The goal of this annual award is to encourage quality American historical documentary films so that more are seen by wider audiences and to elevate the art of filmmaking that uses history as its medium.

The Better Angels Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating Americans about their history through documentary film. Their mission is to educate, engage and provoke thoughtful discussion among people of every political persuasion and ideology. They work to ensure historically significant films are completed, broadcast, promoted, and shared in ways that reach and inform as many people as possible through robust educational and civic outreach. The Better Angels Society is currently raising funds for films in production and planned over the next ten years. The Better Angels Society is also working to ensure that the next generation of documentary filmmakers, inspired by Ken Burns and his team, receive the education, mentoring, training, and support they need to continue his legacy.

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for over forty years.  Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The Statue of Liberty; Huey Long; Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery; Frank Lloyd Wright; Mark Twain; Unforgivable Blackness:  The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson; The War; The National Parks:  America’s Best Idea; The Roosevelts:  An Intimate History; Jackie Robinson; Defying the Nazis:  The Sharps’ War; The Vietnam War, The Mayo Clinic:  Faith - Hope – Science, and most recently Country Music.  Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including sixteen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations; and in September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award.