1927/28 - Frank Borzage / Lewis Milestone
1928/29 - Frank Lloyd
1929/30 - Lewis Milestone
1930/31 - Norman Taurog
1931/32 - Frank Borzage
1932/33 - Frank Lloyd
1934 - Frank Capra
1935 - John Ford
1936 - Frank Capra
1937 - Leo McCarey
1938 - Frank Capra
1939 - Victor Fleming
1940 - John Ford
1941 - John Ford
1942 - William Wyler
1943 - Michael Curtiz
1944 - Leo McCarey
1945 - Billy Wilder
1946 - William Wyler
1947 - Elia Kazan
1948 - John Huston
1949 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1950 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1951 - George Stevens
1952 - John Ford
1953 - Fred Zinnemann
1954 - Elia Kazan
1955 - Delbert Mann
1956 - George Stevens
1957 - David Lean
1958 - Vincente Minnelli
1959 - William Wyler
1960 - Billy Wilder
1961 - Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
1962 - David Lean
1963 - Tony Richardson
1964 - George Cukor
1965 - Robert Wise
1966 - Fred Zinnemann
1967 - Mike Nichols
1968 - Carol Reed
1969 - John Schlesinger
1970 - Franklin J. Schaffner
1971 - William Friedkin
1972 - Bob Fosse
1973 - George Roy Hill
1974 - Francis Ford Coppola
1975 - Milos Forman
1976 - John G. Avildsen
1977 - Woody Allen
1978 - Michael Cimino
1979 - Robert Benton
1980 - Robert Redford
1981 - Warren Beatty
1982 - Richard Attenborough
1983 - James L. Brooks
1984 - Milos Forman
1985 - Sydney Pollack
1986 - Oliver Stone
1987 - Bernardo Bertolucci
1988 - Barry Levinson
1989 - Oliver Stone
1990 - Kevin Costner
1991 - Jonathan Demme
1992 - Clint Eastwood
1993 - Steven Spielberg
1994 - Robert Zemeckis
1995 - Mel Gibson
1996 - Anthony Minghella
1997 - James Cameron
1998 - Steven Spielberg
1999 - Sam Mendes
2000 - Steven Soderbergh
2001 - Ron Howard
2002 - Roman Polanski
2003 - Peter Jackson
2004 - Clint Eastwood
2005 - Ang Lee
2006 - Martin Scorsese
2007 - Joel & Ethan Coen
2008 - Danny Boyle
2009 - Kathryn Bigelow
2010 - Tom Hooper
2011 - Michel Hazanavicius
2012 - Ang Lee
2013 - Alfonso Cuarón
2014 - Alejandro G. Iñárritu
2015 - Alejandro G. Iñárritu
2016 - Damien Chazelle
2017 - Guillermo Del Toro
2018 - Alfonso Cuarón