This is an all-time low for the station and, in contrast, Channel 4 has been recognised for 21 of its programmes.
Edward Mirzoeff, the chairman of Grierson, said the decline of documentaries on the mainstream channels was "disastrous" and blamed docusoaps.
Channel 4's has received nominations for shows such as Patrick Colllerton's 'The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off', 'Touching the Void', 'Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' and 'Inside the Mind of a Suicide Bomber'.
The only BBC One programmes to make the shortlist are 'The Secret Policeman' and 'Elephants: Spy in the Herd'.
The BBC hit back at the criticism and said that the corporation had done well in this year's nominations.
A BBC spokesman, said: "We are surprised at the criticisms as the BBC has received many nominations in this year's shortlist. The nominations for BBC Four demonstrate the high quality of our digital output. BBC Two also had a strong presence not including programmes on BBC Four."
He added: "BBC One has also screened a number of critically acclaimed documentaries that have proved popular with audiences although they did not make it onto the shortlist, such as 'Pompeii' and 'One Life' and 'A child of Our Time'."
ITV and five, although beating BBC One with four nominations each, still put in a disappointing performance.
BBC Two, which the jury described as the "traditional home for documentaries", fared better, with 14 nominations. However, it trailed behind Channel 4 and its sister digital channel BBC Four, which picked up 17.
To make matters worse for the BBC, only 10 of the shortlisted films were made in-house. The rest were produced by independents, foreign companies, students or for were made for the cinema.
The UK Grierson Documentary Awards ceremony will take place in November.
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