The Academy grants an accolade every year from the Best Director category. Here's a list from 1929-2022.
- 2022: Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
- 2021: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
- 2020: Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
- 2019: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
- 2018: Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water
- 2017: Damien Chazelle, La La Land
- 2016: Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
- 2015: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- 2014: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
- 2013: Ang Lee, The Life of Pi
- 2012: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
- 2011: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
- 2010: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
- 2009: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
- 2008: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
- 2007: Martin Scorsese, The Departed
- 2006: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
- 2005: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
- 2004: Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- 2003: Roman Polanski, The Pianist
- 2002: Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind
- 2001: Steven Soderbergh, Traffic
- 2000: Sam Mendes, American Beauty
- 1999: Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan
- 1998: James Cameron, Titanic
- 1997: Anthony Minghella, The English Patient
- 1996: Mel Gibson, Braveheart
- 1995: Robert Zemeckis, Forrest Gump
- 1994: Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List
- 1993: Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
- 1992: Jonathan Demme, The Silence of the Lambs
- 1991: Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves
- 1990: Oliver Stone, Born on the Fourth of July
- 1989: Barry Levinson, Rain Man
- 1988: Bernardo Bertolucci, The Last Emperor
- 1987: Oliver Stone, Platoon
- 1986: Sydney Pollack, Out of Africa
- 1985: Miloš Forman, Amadeus
- 1984: James L. Brooks, Terms of Endearment
- 1983: Richard Attenborough, Gandhi
- 1982: Warren Beatty, Reds
- 1981: Robert Redford, Ordinary People
- 1980: Robert Brenton, Kramer vs. Kramer
- 1979: Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter
- 1978: Woody Allen, Annie Hall
- 1977: John G. Avildsen, Rocky
- 1976: Miloš Forman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- 1975: Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II
- 1974: George Roy Hill, The Sting
- 1973: Bob Fosse, Cabaret
- 1972: William Friedkin, The French Connection
- 1971: Franklin J. Schaffner, Patton
- 1970: John Schlesinger, Midnight Cowboy
- 1969: Carol Reed, Oliver!
- 1968: Mike Nichols, The Graduate
- 1967: Fred Zinnemann, A Man for all Seasons
- 1966: Robert Wise, The Sound of Music
- 1965: George Cukor, My Fair Lady
- 1964: Tony Richardson, Tom Jones
- 1963: David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
- 1962: Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise, West Side Story
- 1961: Billy Wilder, The Apartment
- 1960: William Wyler, Ben-Hur
- 1959: Vincente Minnelli, Gigi
- 1958: David Lean, The Bridge on the River Kwai
- 1957: George Stevens, Giant
- 1956: Delbert Mann, Marty
- 1955: Elia Kazan, On the Waterfront
- 1954: Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity
- 1953: John Ford, The Quiet Man
- 1952: George Stevens, A Place in the Sun
- 1951: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve
- 1950: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, A Letter to Three Wives
- 1949: John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- 1948: Elia Kazan, Gentleman's Agreement
- 1947: William Wyler, The Best Years of Our Lives
- 1946: Billy Wilder, The Lost Weekend
- 1945: Leo McCarey, Going My Way
- 1944: Michael Curtis, Casablanca
- 1943: William Wyler, Mrs. Miniver
- 1942: John Ford, How Green Was My Valley
- 1941: John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath
- 1940: Victor Fleming, Gone with the Wind
- 1939: Frank Capra, You Can't Take It with You
- 1938: Leo McCarey, The Awful Truth
- 1937: Frank Capra, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
- 1936: John Ford, The Informer
- 1935: Frank Capra, It Happened One Night
- 1934: Frank Lloyd, Cavalcade
- 1933: Frank Borzage, Bad Girl
- 1932: Norman Taurog, Skippy
- 1931: Lewis Milestone, All Quiet on the Western Front
- 1930: Frank, Lloyd, The Divine Lady
- 1929: Lewis Milestone, Two Arabian Knights & Frank Borzage, 7th Heaven