It’s that time of year again, when hordes of stars and paparazzi descend on the red carpet for the Emmy Awards. But here at The I Files, we’re focusing on the slightly less well-known and moderately less glamorous News and Documentary Emmys, which feature fewer diamonds but far more muckraking.

We’ve gathered a sampling of some of this year’s most compelling nominees. Our playlist includes videos from The New York Times, CBS, ABC, the BBC, PBS, The Center for Investigative Reporting and several independent filmmakers and features stories ranging from the war in Syria to narwhal hunting in the Arctic.

So sit back, grab your popcorn and voting ballot, and watch some of the best reporting available online. We promise not to ask who you’re wearing.

Highlights include:

The New York Times’ innovative Op-Doc series was nominated for its inaugural season. We’ve highlighted a clip from Laura Poitras’ documentary on a National Security Agency whistle-blower who reveals a top-secret program he created that he says broadly collects Americans’ personal data.

BBC correspondents Ian Pannell and Paul Wood shadow rebel fighters and report on deteriorating conditions in Syria during the ongoing conflict.

CBS’ “60 Minutes” profiles a North Korean man who escaped the prison where he was born and detained for 23 brutal years. He offers a window into a world where three generations of a family are incarcerated if one family member is considered disloyal.

CNN goes inside Mauritania, a country where an estimated 10 to 20 percent of the population lives in slavery.

“In Jennifer’s Room” is a deeply disturbing story about the failure to protect a young woman with severe intellectual disabilities who was living in a state-run care facility in California. This video is part of a CIR reporting package that won George Polk and IRE awards and was a finalist in the Pulitzer Prize’s public service category.

A yearlong New York Times investigation of the U.S. horse racing industry uncovers a pervasive culture of drugs and lax regulation.

This short documentary profiles then-15-year-old Inocente, a homeless teenager who is determined to become an artist despite precarious circumstances and overwhelming odds. “Inocente” won an Oscar earlier this year in the short documentary category.

PBS’ “Need to Know” investigates whether U.S. border agents have been using excessive force in an effort to curb illegal immigration in “Crossing the Line at the Border.”

In “The Interrupters,” PBS FRONTLINE takes an intimate journey into the persistence of violence in American cities.

You can check out the full playlist here before the winners are announced Oct. 1. For a first look at the best videos from across the Web and around the world, take a moment to subscribe to The I Files.

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Amanda Pike (she/her) is the director of the TV and documentary department and executive producer of films and series at Reveal. Under her leadership, The Center for Investigative Reporting garnered its first Academy Award nomination and four national Emmys, among other accolades. She was the executive producer of the inaugural year of the Glassbreaker Films initiative, supporting women in documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism. She has spent the past two decades reporting and producing documentaries for PBS, CBS, ABC, National Geographic, A&E, Lifetime and The Learning Channel, among others. Subjects have ranged from militia members in Utah to young entrepreneurs in Egypt and genocide perpetrators in Cambodia. Pike also has dabbled in fiction filmmaking, producing the short film “On the Assassination of the President,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.