At the 33rd European Film Awards, the film won Best European Documentary, becoming the first ever Romanian film to achieve that feat. The film also won Best Documentary at the 41st Boston Society of Film Critics Awards. Starting off the new year on a strong foot, it went on to win the prestigious Best Foreign Language Film Award from the National Society of Film Critics on 9 January 2021. On 26 January 2021, the National Board of Review selected Collective as one of the top 5 foreign language films of the year. On 9 March 2021, the film was nominated for the 74th BAFTA Film Awards for Best Documentary. Furthermore, on 15 March 2021, the film was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the 93rd Academy Awards for two categories: Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film. It is only the second film to be nominated for both awards following North Macedonia's "Honeyland" the previous year. It is the first Romanian film to be nominated for an Academy Award, let alone in two categories. It also won the prestigious Peabody Award.