| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOK Leipzig 2014[57] | October 29, 2014 | "Leipziger Ring" | Citizenfour | Won |
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | December 1, 2014 | Best Documentary | Citizenfour | Won |
| IDA Documentary Awards[58] | December 5, 2014 | Best Feature | Citizenfour | Won |
| Cinema Eye Honors[59] | January 7, 2015 | Outstanding Achievements in Nonfiction Filmmaking | Citizenfour | Won |
| Outstanding Achievements in Direction | Laura Poitras | Won | ||
| Outstanding Achievements in Editing | Mathilde Bonnefoy | Won | ||
| Outstanding Achievements in Production | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky | Won | ||
| Audience Choice | Citizenfour | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Nominated | |||
| Critics' Choice Movie Award | January 15, 2015 | Best Documentary Feature | Citizenfour | Won |
| ACE Eddie Award | January 30, 2015 | Best Edited Documentary Feature | Mathilde Bonnefoy | Won |
| Directors Guild of America Award[60] | February 7, 2015 | Outstanding Directing – Documentaries | Laura Poitras | Won |
| BAFTA Awards[61] | February 8, 2015 | Best Documentary | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky | Won |
| Satellite Awards | February 15, 2015 | Best Documentary Film | Citizenfour | Won |
| Independent Spirit Awards | February 21, 2015 | Best Documentary | Citizenfour | Won |
| Academy Awards[62] | February 22, 2015 | Best Documentary Feature | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky | Won |
| Deutscher Filmpreis[63] | June 19, 2015 | Best Documentary Film | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky | Won |
| Best Editing | Mathilde Bonnefoy | Nominated | ||
| Best Sound Design | Frank Kruse, Matthias Lempert and Alexander Buck | Nominated | ||
| Primetime Creative Emmy Awards[64] | September 12, 2015 | Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky | Won |
| Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming | Laura Poitras | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Directing For Nonfiction Programming | Laura Poitras | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming | Mathilde Bonnefoy | Nominated |
At DOK Leipzig 2014, when Citizenfour won the Leipziger Ring award, Edward Snowden gave a video message to the festival.[65]
Citizenfour won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[66] It was considered the frontrunner heading into the awards;[67][68][69] Brent Lang of Variety called for Citizenfour to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture,[70] with THR's Gregg Kilday discussing its prospects,[71] but it was not nominated in that category.
Poitras also received several journalistic and humanitarian awards for reporting the Snowden disclosures depicted in the film, including the George Polk award (with Greenwald and MacAskill),[72] the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize (with Edward Snowden)[73] the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for human rights (with Greenwald and Snowden),[74] and the Henri Nannen Prize for Efforts for Independence of the Press.[75] The Guardian and The Washington Post received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting by Poitras, Greenwald, MacAskill, and Barton Gellman.[76]
