The shortlist for the 2006 Grierson Awards agreed by the Grierson Trust and reviewers.

They have selected 77 documentaries in nine categories to go forward to the next stage in the competition.

The shortlisted films will be seen by independent panels of judges who will select four films in each category to be nominated for the final awards.

The winners will be announced at the Grierson Awards ceremony which will take place at the Royal Geographical Society, London on Friday, 17 November 2006.

Established in 1972, the Grierson Awards commemorate the pioneering Scottish documentary maker John Grierson (1898 - 1972), widely regarded as the father of the British documentary.

The complete shortlist:

Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue
- Asylum (Peter Gordon for BBC) BBC Four
- Dispatches: Beslan (Kevin Sim for Mentorn Oxford) Channel 4
- Born in the USSR: 21 Up (Sergei Miroshnichenko for Granda Television) ITV 1
- Gaza: The Fight for Israel (Monica Garnsey for Raw TV Ltd & Israel Goldvicht Productions) Channel 4
- The Insurgency (Tom Roberts for October Films) BBC Two
- The Real Sex Traffic (Ric Esther Bienstock for True Vision Productions) Channel 4
- Women on the Edge: The Truth About Styal Prison (Rachel Coughlan for BBC) BBC Two
- A World without Water (Brian Woods for True Vision Productions) Channel 4

Best Documentary on the Arts
- Imagine: Andy Warhol Denied (Chris Rodley for BBC) BBC One
- Imagine: Elgar and the Missing Concerto (John Bridcut for Mentorn Oxford) BBC One
- In Search of Mozart (Phil Grabsky for Seventh Art Productions) five
- John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship (Tony Palmer for Isolde Films) five
- The Photographer, His Wife, Her Lover (Paul Yule for Berwick Pictures) BBC Four
- Sinatra: Dark Star (Christopher Olgiati for Paladin Invision) BBC One
- South Bank Show: Maxim Vengerov: Living the Dream (Ken Howard for Landseer Productions) ITV 1
- Take that for the Record (David Norman-Watt for talkbackTHAMES in association with Syco TV) ITV 1

Best Historical Documentary
- The Blitz - London's Firestorm (Louise Osmond for Darlow Smithson) Channel 4
- Elusive Peace - Israel and the Arabs (Mark Anderson for Brook Lapping) BBC Two
- The First Emperor (Nic Young for Lion Television) Channel 4
- How Vietnam Was Lost (Two Days In October) (Robert Kenner for Robert Kenner films) BBC One
- How We Fell for Europe (Nikki Stockley for Brook Lapping) BBC Two
- Timewatch: Pol Pot - Journey to the Killing Fields (Andrew Williams for BBC) BBC Two
- Tory! Tory! Tory! (for Mentorn) BBC Four
- A Very British Olympics (Dominic Sutherland for BBC) BBC Four

Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World
- Bodyshock: Curse of the Mermaid (Julia Harrington for RedBack) Channel 4
- Planet Earth: From Pole to Pole (Mark Linfield for BBC) BBC One
- Horizon: Ghost in your Genes (Nigel Paterson for BBC) BBC Two
- The King Cobra and I (Harry Marshall for Icon Films) BBC Two
- Life in the Undergrowth: Invasion of the Land (Peter Bassett for BBC) BBC
One
- Monkey Love (Brian Henry Martin for Doubleband Films) Channel 4
- The Natural World: The Queen of Trees (Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble for Flat Dog Productions) BBC Two
- Extraordinary People: The Seven Year Old Surgeon (Polly Steele for Firecracker Films) five

Most Entertaining Documentary
- Armed Robbery Orgasm (Norman Hull for Firefly Productions) Channel 4
- Mischief: Booze Bird (Colete Camden for BBC) BBC Three
- Censored At The Seaside: The Saucy Postcards of Donald McGill (Steve Webb for Firefly Productions) BBC Two
- Arena: Little Platform, Big Stage (Zimena Percival for Lone Star Productions) BBC Four
- Live 8: Programme One: Twenty Years Ago Today (Anna Davies for Brook Lapping) BBC One
- Michael Carroll - King of Chavs (Ned Parker and Keith Allen for Associated Rediffusion Television) Channel 4
- Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: Prog 3 - Momma Cherri's (Christine Hall for Optomen Television) Channel 4
- Taxidermy: Stuff The World (Moran Matthews for Century Films) Channel 4
- The Trouble with Gay Men (Maninderpal Sahota for Diverse TV) BBC Three

Best Drama Documentary
- Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (Nick Murphy for BBC) BBC One
- Elizabeth David - A Life in Recipes (James Kent for Wall to Wall) BBC Two
- Fantabulosa (Andy De Emmony for BBC) BBC Four
- Hiroshima (Paul Wilmshurst for BBC) BBC One
- Our Hidden Lives (Michael Samuels for Diverse Productions) BBC Four
- The Plot Against Harold Wilson (Paul Dwyer for BBC) BBC Two
- The Secretary Who Stole £4 Million (Colin Barr for BBC) BBC Two
- The Year London Blew Up (Edmund Coulthard and Mark Hayhurst for Blast Films) Channel 4

Best Documentary Series
- 49 Up (Michael Apted for Granada Television) ITV 1
- Cult of the Suicide Bomber (David Batty and Kevin Toolis for Many Rivers
Productions) Channel 4
- In Search of Mozart (Phil Grabsky for Seventh Art Productions) five
- Mischief (BBC) BBC Three
- My Life as a Child (Nicola Gibson for BBC) BBC Two
- Russian Godfathers (Patrick Forbes for Oxford Film & Television) BBC Two
- Underground Britain (Alastair Cook and Robert Davis for Blast Films) BBC Two
- A Very English Village (Luke Holland for ZEF Productions) BBC Four

UK Film Council Best Cinema Documentary
- Storyville: Darwin's Nightmare (Hubert Sauper for Mille et Une, Coop 99 & Saga Film) BBC Four
- Diameter of the Bomb (Steven Silver and Andrew Quigley for Rainmaker Films)
- Dig (Ondi Timoner for Interloper)
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Alex Gibney for HD Net Films)
- March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet for Warner Independent Pictures & National Geographic Feature Films)
- The Road to Guantanamo (Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross for Revolution Films) Channel 4
- Unknown White Male (Rupert Murray for Spectre Broadcast Ltd) More4
- Viva Zapatero! (Sabina Guzzanti for Studiosound srl)
- Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price (Robert Greenwald for Brace New Films)

Bloomberg Best Newcomer
- Astrid Busink for Angelmakers
- Clare Richards for Disabled and Looking for Love
- Nasfim Haque for Don't Panic I'm Islamic
- Emma Parkin for Family Ties: Flesh and Blood
- Vaughan Pilikian for Hammer and Flame
- Lee Phillips for How to Start Your Own Countrys
- Jamie Johnson for Man's New Best Friend ... a Dogumentary
- Andrew Henderson for The Rest is Silence
- Nicki Stoker for Show Me the Money
- Sadik Ahmed for Tanju Miah
- Aneel Ahmad for Waiting for Sunrise