Wednesday, April 22, 2026

'Secrets of the Penguins' leads Outstanding Nature Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Earth Day


Happy Earth Day! As I promised thrice, I'm celebrating today by examining the nominees for Outstanding Nature Documentary at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Nature Documentary
Katavi: Africa's Fallen Paradise
Nature
PBS [THE WNET GROUP | TERRA MATER STUDIOS | SHIBUMI FILMS | ARTE | WDR]
The Last Rhinos: A New Hope
Sixty-Six Media Inc. [ABC News Studios | Lincoln Square Productions | National Geographic]
Secrets of the Penguins
Talesmith [National Geographic]
Shark Whisperer
Netflix [Netflix | Boardwalk Pictures | Underdog Films]
Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion
Nature
PBS [RHYTHM PRODUCTIONS, LLC | THE WNET GROUP
Secrets of the Penguins leads with three nominations for Outstanding Sound: Documentary and Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary in addition to Best Nature Documentary, followed by The Last Rhinos: A New Hope with two nominations, the other for Outstanding Music Composition: Documentary, then the Nature episodes "Katavi: Africa's Fallen Paradise" and "Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion," and Shark Whisperer with just this one.  I'm sharing the trailers in this order, beginning with Secrets of the Penguins | Official Trailer | National Geographic.

On the twentieth anniversary of National Geographic’s Academy-Award Winning “March of The Penguins”, SECRETS OF THE PENGUINS changes everything we ever believed to be true. From the Emperor Penguins’ revelatory bonds of friendship to the gritty resolve of Gentoos and Rockhoppers, and the astonishing ingenuity of the migrant penguins that reached deserts and far beyond, their incredible traditions and societies echo ours in ways we never dreamt possible – until now. For over two years, BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning wildlife cinematographer Bertie Gregory collaborates with world leading scientists, using cutting-edge camera technology and unique access to capture three world-first episodes that resonate with our lives like never before. The three-part series is executive produced by National Geographic Explorer-at-Large and Academy Award®-winning filmmaker James Cameron.
This is in the same overall series as Secrets of the Whales, Secrets of the Elephants, and Secrets of the Octopus, all of which earned nominations at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. That, and its award-winning producer and director, bode well for its award chances at these Emmy Awards.

I'm recycling from Spectacular nature films nominated at the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards for the next nominee.
I couldn't find a trailer for The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, but I did find 66-Day Fetus Of Northern White Rhino Marks A Moment Of Hope For A Species On The Brink from IFLScience, the next best thing.
There are just two northern white rhinos left in the world: Najin and Fatu, a mother and daughter pair. They can’t continue the species alone, but a world-first attempt was made to bring a new northern white rhino calf into the world using frozen samples, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and a surrogate southern white rhino.

That surrogate was called Curra, and the successful world-first attempt at this kind of cross-species IVF was achieved by BioRescue, an initiative developing advanced reproduction technologies for saving critically endangered mammals. Jan Stejskal was one of the people who had just landed in Kenya to check on the status of her pregnancy when they received a worrying call: Curra was sick, and it was happening fast.

They’d never get to check if she was pregnant, as she died within an hour of falling ill. The team would later learn that this was the devastating outcome of a chain of unfortunate events. First, there was the shift in El Niño, which caused very heavy rains. Then, those rains washed away the top layer of soil in Kenya, resurrecting mummies that had been stored in the ground for centuries. Inside those carcasses was Clostridia bacteria that can live for 500 years, and that bacteria releases an extremely powerful toxin that can kill a rhino in just 60 minutes.

It was a devastating loss for the BioRescue team and even more so for the guardians who had cared for Curra and the other rhinos on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. There came, however, just one small glimmer of hope.
During an autopsy, the team found a 66-day fetus. It was a male northern white rhino, the last seen since the death of Sudan in 2018. There was nothing that could be done to save Curra or the developing fetus inside her, but it was proof that this kind of IVF was possible – something that had never been proven before.

This story of loss and hope is explored in the new National Geographic film, The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, which premieres Aug. 24 at 8/7c and streams next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
No wonder this earned an EMA Award nomination. I hope it gets nominated at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards next year.
I got my wish!

Now for the Nature episodes, beginning with Katavi – Africa’s fallen Paradise | Terra Mater Studios (Official Trailer) by Terra Mater Studios.

Southern Tanzania. The powerful local tribes of hippo, lion and crocodile struggle for survival while defending their turf from intruders. Only the oldest crocodile matriarch remembers 90 years ago when a similar event occurred…

This allegorical tale offers a fascinating insight into how an animal society can be affected by a changing climate, and how this situation requires new strategies and changed behaviors from everyone to battle despair and to create hope for the future of their lineage…
Yes, this is a Nature episode, but PBS didn't make this trailer, so it looks and sounds distinct. On the other hand, PBS did make the next one, so it's definitely my idea of a Nature promo, Nature | Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion - Preview from New Mexico PBS.

A unique, non-invasive, mountain lion study uses a giant network of trail cameras scattered throughout Montana's Sapphire Mountains over a decade to piece together the life story of a female mountain lion. This film weaves clips of mountain lions and their complex interactions with each other and the rest of the forest world into a story about life and death that contains never-before-captured events and behaviors at every turn.
National Geographic and Nature on PBS — all this category needs is a Netflix nominee, and it has one in Shark Whisperer | Official Trailer | Netflix.

From the Academy Award®-winning director of My Octopus Teacher comes Shark Whisperer, a provocative and visually arresting documentary that dives into the murky waters of modern conservation, where science, activism, and spectacle collide.

At its center is marine conservationist and social media lightning rod Ocean Ramsey, whose viral videos of swimming freely with sharks have sparked global fascination—and fierce debate. Driven by a desire to leave the cage and decode shark language up close, Ocean strives to connect with these predators on an unprecedented level— hoping to challenge the negative perception of sharks. To her supporters, she’s a fearless advocate giving a voice to misunderstood predators. To her critics, her mission blurs the line between saving the planet and seeking the spotlight.

Through intimate character study and breathtaking underwater cinematography, the film explores the tensions between advocacy and ethics, media influence and ecological integrity. With insight from marine biologists, indigenous knowledge holders, and fellow conservationists—both supportive and dissenting—it paints a nuanced portrait of a polarizing figure and the broader questions she provokes.

This is not just a story about sharks. It’s a story about how we choose to tell stories—about nature, ourselves, and what we’re willing to risk to be heard.
I think the video description is a fair depiction of the subject matter, so I'm not as conflicted about its nomination as I was about Encounters. I was pleased and relieved Science Fair won instead. While I'm rooting for Secrets of the Penguins and The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, in that order, I wouldn't be nearly as perturbed as I would have been if Encounters had won Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary two years ago if Shark Whisperers wins Outstanding Nature Documentary. Fortunately, the metric I use, views of the trailer, favors Secrets of the Penguins over Shark Whisperer; the latter has 454,462 views, while the former has 5,449,091 views. The penguins have the people!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for Secrets of the Penguins and The Last Rhinos: A New Hope plus more of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards from the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.


Secrets of the Penguins is in very good company, including 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, which is my pick to win both that award and this category. Also, this is one of two nominations for Pangolin: Kulu's Journey, which missed out on a nomination for Outstanding Nature Documentary.


Secrets of the Penguins deserved this nomination, but I doubt it will win. Instead, I think it's between Turning Point: The Vietnam War with five total nominations and Love + War with four nominations. Both are also nominated for Best Documentary. The sounds of combat would probably impress the journalists and documentarians, possibly even more than the sounds of nature or music. If the entertainment professionals in the Creative Arts Emmys were voting, they might give WE WANT THE FUNK! the advantage. Not here; electorates matter.


This is the second nominated category for both The Last Rhinos: A New Hope and Pangolin: Kulu's Journey. Without listening to the score, I can't make an accurate assessment of the music. That written, my gut feels that it's between Vietnam: The War That Changed America and Chasing Time. The former has three nominations and the latter is the first short documentary I recall having a second nomination at these awards. Also, Exposure Labs has a strong track record with music, with Chasing Ice earning an Oscar nomination for its song and Chasing Coral earning a nomination for Music & Sound.

Now for the most read entries about the Emmy Awards between March 21, 2025 and March 20, 2026, beginning with two posts I covered in J.D. Vance gets the 'Last Week Tonight' treatment.


I shared John Oliver examines Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC after winning two Emmy Awards from September 23, 2025 to the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party USA Facebook page, which helped it earn 796 default and 846 raw page views during September 2025, good enough for 8th by default page views, 20th by raw page views, and 19th among entries posted during September 2025. It ended the blogging year with 913 raw page views, ranking it 18th among entries posted during the blogging year and 24th overall. I plan on reusing this entry when I examine posts about the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
I shared John Oliver examines 'Gang Databases' plus 'Last Week Tonight's six Emmy nominations from July 29, 2025 at the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party USA Facebook page. It didn't make the monthly top twenty during August, but it did end the blogging year with 491 raw page views, ranking it 49th among entries posted during the blogging year and 68th overall. Again, I plan on reusing this entry when I examine posts about the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
That's a wrap for today. I'll resume covering nominees at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Flashback Friday on Arbor Day. I'm celebrating English Language Day tomorrow for Throwback Thursday. In the meantime, enjoy Wednesday Addams, the mascot for Wayback Wednesday.


Previous posts in this series Previous posts about the 57th News & Doc Emmy Awards Previous retrospectives about entertainment
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