{{Infobox award }} The National Film Award for Best Debut Film of a Director is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal). The award was instituted in 1980, at 28th National Film Awards and has been awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages; Hindi (11 Awards), Bengali and Malayalam (9 Awards each), Tamil (5 Awards), Marathi (3 Awards), Assamese, English and Telugu (2 each), Haryanvi, Jasari, Karbi and Ladakhi (1 Each). The award includes 'Golden Lotus Award' (Swarna Kamal) and cash prize. Until 69th edition, the award was given to director and producer. The name was shortened to Best Debut Film of a Director since 70th National Film Awards, and the director alone is awarded. The prize money was increased to ₹3,00,000.

Winners

1980 – 2021

2022 – present

Since the 70th National Film Awards, director alone is awarded.