2023-2024

Claudia Rivera Cotto

Claudia M. Rivera Cotto is a bilingual reporter who covers political, government and immigration issues in North Carolina for Enlace Latino NC. Before joining Report for America, she reported on social issues for the Columbia Missourian. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and English from the University of Puerto Rico, where she served as News Co-Director of Pulso Estudiantil. Rivera Cotto also has a master’s degree in Investigative and Data Journalism from the University of Missouri. Her journalism focuses on corporate and government accountability reporting.

Liana Hardy

Liana Hardy covers educational equity in Henrico County, Virginia for the Henrico Citizen. Prior to joining the Citizen, Hardy interned for the Alexandria Times in Alexandria, Virginia, where she wrote stories on local sports, arts and music, education and politics. Hardy earned her bachelor's degree in history from Georgetown University, where she worked as a news and features editor for The Hoya, the university's main student newspaper. She also completed coursework for minors in journalism and Spanish. Hardy is a native of the D.C. region, growing up in Arlington, Virginia, where she loves to explore nature trails and local food sites.

Samuel Shaw

Samuel Shaw covers rural-to-urban transformation in East Texas for the Longview News-Journal. Previously, Shaw was one of two applicants selected for the High Country News editorial internship, where he reported on infrastructure, housing and landscape across the West, with articles syndicated in The Atlantic and Mother Jones. Shaw also contributed to open-source investigations for the award-winning Airwars investigations team based in London, UK, focusing on civilian harm monitoring in Iraqi Kurdistan. He got his start penning stories after college when he founded The Speer, an independent online magazine exploring underreported topics on the Colorado Front Range, where he grew up. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Goldsmiths University in London and a bachelor's degree in Political Science from University of California Santa Cruz. Shaw's photography has won awards with C.LAB in London, while his photojournalism has been featured in High Country News, 5280 Magazine, The Land Desk, Boulder Weekly, East London Lines and Rat Park Magazine. As a prototypical Colorado-California kid, he's frequently spotted on two wheels, two skis or a surfboard.

Daniel Schmidt

Daniel Schmidt covers local government accountability in Ouray County, Colorado, for the Ouray County Plaindealer. Prior to joining the Plaindealer, Schmidt was the community reporter at The Plainsman, Auburn University's award-winning student newspaper, where he covered local government, elections, breaking news, crime and community events. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Troy University and a bachelor's in journalism from Auburn University.

Lillian M. Hernández Caraballo

Lillian (Lilly) Hernández Caraballo is a bilingual, multimedia journalist based in Central Florida, reporting for WMFE 90.7 in Orlando. Before joining Report for America, Caraballo was a writer, paginator and editor for the weekly periodical Hometown News and an associate producer for Spectrum News 13, a top 20 TV market. She graduated from University of Central Florida in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in journalism, a minor in writing and rhetoric and a certification in Hispanic media. At the school, Caraballo was editor-in-chief of NSM Today, the student newspaper, and interned with several news outlets, including WKMG News 6, WUCF 89.9 and the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. During her time at WUCF, she collaborated to host, manage and web produce the award-winning project "The Road to Freedom Avenue: The Legacy of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore." Her role in that project was instrumental in earning the organization a National Edward R. Murrow Award in 2022, for Excellence in Digital Reporting, among other accolades.

Shannon Chaffers

Shannon Chaffers covers the epidemic of gun violence in New York's Black, immigrant, and under-resourced communities for The New York Amsterdam News’ Blacklight investigative unit. Prior to joining the Amsterdam News, Chaffers spent a year in Berlin, Germany as a Fulbright Young Professional Journalist. She reported on the history and legacy of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium while also interning at The Local Germany. Chaffers’ journalism career began in her hometown of Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she wrote for her high school newspaper, The Bradford. She then attended Princeton University, graduating in 2022. She majored in Sociology and minored in Journalism, African-American Studies, and German and also served as the Head Opinion Editor of The Daily Princetonian, the student newspaper. Away from journalism, Chaffers loves playing soccer and cheering on her favorite team, Arsenal FC.

Daniel Walters

Daniel Walters covers the far right, the radical left and the beleaguered democratic institutions caught in the middle for InvestigateWest, an investigative nonprofit in the Pacific Northwest. He previously spent 15 years as a reporter for the Inlander, the alt-weekly in Spokane, Washington, where he’s covered a slew of different beats, including city hall, politics, religion, business, and education. In that role, he won first-place national alt-weekly awards for extremism reporting with his 2020 cover story about the rise of vigilantism; for immigration reporting with his harrowing account of an Afghan's failed attempt to escape his country after it fell to the Taliban; for education reporting with his exposé of Idaho's failure to send its high school graduates to college; and for food writing for his deeply reported explanation of exactly why amateur chefs shouldn’t set their laptop on a hot stove burner. Before that, he was a student at Whitworth University, where, as opinions editor for his college paper, he banned his writers from using semicolons.

Lucille Lannigan

Lucille Lannigan covers rural communities in Southwest, Georgia, for the Albany Herald. She was born and mostly raised in Key West, Florida, and served as co editor-in-chief at the newspaper of the island's only high school. In 2022, Lannigan interned on CBS-affiliate 10 Tampa Bay’s digital desk, where she covered topics like Florida's changing abortion laws and mastered the art of creating digital news content. During her senior year at the University of Florida, Lannigan worked as a Pulitzer fellow, covering Florida’s phosphate industry and producing an accountability feature on Florida’s reclaimed mining lands. Lannigan wrote investigative and political content on Florida’s 2023 legislative session for WUFT's Fresh Take Florida. Her byline has appeared in the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, Tallahassee Democrat, and more. Her love for journalism stems from her time at The Independent Florida Alligator, the University of Florida's independent, student-run paper. Over two years, she reported on race, equity, health and the environment and served as the metro desk editor. She graduated in 2023 with a journalism bachelor's degree from the university.

Shannon Sollitt

Shannon Sollitt is a bilingual journalist covering Utah's tech sector and other business coverage. Previously, Shannon covered agriculture for the Statesman Journal. A multimedia journalist, Sollitt’s career started in her hometown of Jackson, Wyoming, reporting breaking news, local politics, housing and economic injustice for various news outlets. Her coverage of sexual violence prompted curriculum changes in the local high school. Sollitt says that there are few things she knows with certainty: words are powerful. Even small ones carry weight. She strives to use them to tell stories that heal, that help, that hold a mirror up to the world and ask it to change. Sollitt holds a master’s in journalism from Boston University and a bachelor’s from Willamette University.

Daniel Zawodny

Daniel Zawodny covers transportation in Baltimore and its surrounding communities for The Baltimore Banner. Before joining The Banner, Daniel covered immigration and immigrant issues at the local, national and international levels as an independent journalist while working in the field of immigration law. He is fluent in Spanish and bachata and would really like to pet your dog.