FRONTLINE Wins 2 News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Including for Bill Moyers’ Final Documentary With the Series

The PBS investigative series FRONTLINE won two Emmys at the 46th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, a two-night ceremony held June 25 and 26 in New York City by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The wins for the public media series, which is produced at GBH in Boston and broadcast nationwide on PBS, included an Emmy on June 26 for a decades-spanning documentary with legendary journalist Bill Moyers, whose death at age 91 was reported that same day.

Additionally, veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk was one of three documentary filmmakers inducted into the Gold Circle Honor Society, made up of individuals NATAS describes as “industry leaders who have made lasting contributions to the television industry” for 50 years.

During the ceremony, which was streamed online, the following FRONTLINE documentaries were named as Emmy winners:

• Two American Families: 1991-2024 won the Emmy for “Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.” This two-hour documentary from correspondent Bill Moyers and filmmakers Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes (see full credits list) chronicled two families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — one Black, the Stanleys, and one white, the Neumanns — from 1991 through 2024 as they navigated a changing U.S. economy in pursuit of the American dream. Filmed across more than 30 years, the documentary was the fifth in a series of PBS films documenting both families’ perseverance in the face of economic hardship. The film raised unsettling questions about the economy’s shift towards part-time, low-wage work and the impact on people struggling to make a living.

• Maui’s Deadly Firestorm won the “Outstanding Climate, Environment and Weather Coverage” News Emmy. As the documentary examined, the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century reduced much of the Hawaiian town of Lahaina on the island of Maui to ashes in August 2023, killing more than 100 people and displacing thousands. From a team led by writer, producer and director Xinyan Yu and producer Christina Avalos (see full credits list), Maui’s Deadly Firestorm investigated the chaotic response, how the tragedy was decades in the making, and how changes to the climate and landscape have made Maui increasingly vulnerable to fires.

“We are so honored to see FRONTLINE’s work recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences over these past two nights, and we’re so pleased for Michael Kirk who has told stories for FRONTLINE since its inception,” said FRONTLINE executive producer and editor-in-chief Raney Aronson-Rath. “Tonight’s win for Two American Families: 1991-2024 honors the incredible life and legacy of Bill Moyers, whose contributions to FRONTLINE, journalism and public media will endure, and we will miss him. We are grateful to our filmmakers, GBH, PBS, CPB and our viewers, who support FRONTLINE’s investigative journalism week in and week out.”

“It’s an honor to be recognized by the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and to be inducted into the Gold Circle Honor Society,” said Kirk, whose next documentary, Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law, premieres July 15 on FRONTLINE. “It’s been a privilege and thrill to make documentaries for public media for more than 50 years, and I look forward to continuing to share stories about our country and world on FRONTLINE.”

Including 10 nominations for FRONTLINE this year, PBS received 37 News & Documentary Award nominations and GBH received 18. FRONTLINE has now earned 110 News & Documentary Emmy Awards since the series began.

Watch this year’s Emmy-winning FRONTLINE documentaries below. They are also available to stream in the PBS App, at pbs.org/frontline and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

OUTSTANDING SOCIAL ISSUE DOCUMENTARY

Two American Families: 1991-2024 (credits)

OUTSTANDING CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT AND WEATHER COVERAGE

Maui’s Deadly Firestorm (credits)

Originally published after the first night of the News & Documentary Emmy Awards on June 25, 2025, this post was updated after the second night on June 26, 2025.