Charlottesville Tomorrow is proud to announce that our public health and safety reporter, Anastasiia Carrier, has been selected as a 2026-2027 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.
“That a Charlottesville Tomorrow reporter has been selected to this prestigious program speaks volumes to the caliber of journalists at our local nonprofit newsroom, and especially to Carrier’s exceptional reporting,” said Claudine Ebeid, executive producer of audio at The Atlantic and current member of our board of directors.
The Knight-Wallace Fellowship is a competitive, nine-month program for professional journalists run by the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan. Starting in late August, Carrier will join 18 other fellows from across the world to work and study in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The fellows each work on an in-depth journalistic project and attend university classes.
“Charlottesville Tomorrow has been incredibly supportive about professional growth opportunities, and the project that I’m pursuing as part of the fellowship came out of my reporting at Charlottesville Tomorrow as a way to go deeper,” said Carrier. “It’s rare to have support like that.”
In May 2024, Anastasiia Carrier — known to many as Ana — joined Charlottesville Tomorrow as our public health and safety reporter.
For our public safety beat, she tracked the evolution of Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) through a series of articles, one of which was featured in the Poynter Institute’s 2025 Transforming Local Crime Reporting program training as an example of excellent public safety journalism. Carrier’s reporting explored the limitations of the PCOB’s influence and varied perceptions of its impact. She touched on the Board’s achievements and setbacks, reviewing its years-long struggle to achieve its original vision, and most recently, its intention to drop its investigative powers and transition to new leadership.
Carrier has covered the impact of gun violence in Charlottesville. In one report, she investigated the decrease in violence in the Prospect Avenue neighborhood. Despite holding contrasting opinions on how to address violence, two people wrote in to the newsroom to praise Carrier’s balanced reporting. One said, “This is a very good article. You really captured the totality of the different perspectives.” The other said, “It is an honest article highlighting the misperceptions in the community…and the need to come together better.”
In another report, Carrier examined the challenges of navigating Virginia’s re-entry system for formerly incarcerated people. The report helped inform local and state policy conversations. Organizations from across Virginia that work with formerly incarcerated people shared the report with their networks, and it even reached Virginia’s Office of the State Inspector General. Their press officer called Carrier’s report “illuminating.”
Carrier also reports extensively on public health. She has covered access to mental health care, with a focus on youth and their parents, as well as women’s health. She has written several reports about the closure of the labor and delivery unit and its obstetrics and gynecological services at Centra Southside Community Hospital in Farmville. Her reporting drew national recognition. The Pulitzer Center selected Carrier as its 2026 Mental Well-Being in the U.S. Reporting Fellow to further investigate the closure’s impact on maternal wellbeing.
“We know that Ana’s reporting on gun violence, the justice system and public health in central Virginia has been important to many people,” said CEO and Editor-in-Chief Angilee Shah. “We’re so glad that she can bring the editorial values of our newsroom to our broader industry through this fellowship.”
For her fellowship, Carrier will further immerse herself in the world of health reporting. Specifically, she will be researching and reporting on the gaps in oversight for medical malpractice and misconduct across the nation. Read more about her project.
“I’m saddened to be stepping away from Charlottesville Tomorrow and its team and the community and sources I’ve been working with. There are so many people in the community I speak with regularly to ensure stories that are important to them are told,” said Carrier. “Even so, this is an incredible opportunity and I’m honored and still in a little bit of disbelief. I’m excited about what this means for me as a reporter: a chance to focus on learning about healthcare on the structural level away from the day-to-day, story-to-story pace.
Follow Carrier on LinkedIn for updates throughout her fellowship.
