The award, presented by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), is widely considered the public relations industry’s highest honor, the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize for communications. The Silver Anvil recognizes organizations that have successfully addressed contemporary issues with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. The award marks the seventh Silver Anvil for the Bellwether team.

“This recognition means the world to our team, but what matters most to us is the impact behind it,” said Andie Poole, APR, partner at Bellwether Public Relations. “We do this work because we believe in making the world a little better than we found it, and these campaigns moved the needle in ways that will benefit Michiganders for years to come.”

Bellwether was recognized for a portfolio of work that demonstrates the firm’s ability to win on some of Michigan’s toughest public policy challenges. Highlights from the award entry include:

Fix MI State / “Save Our Jobs. Fund Our Roads.” — For the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, Bellwether led a campaign to end decades of legislative gridlock on road funding. Grounded in statewide polling showing 87% of Michiganders viewed road funding as important, the campaign unified contractors, construction workers and union members behind a singular economic message. A landmark rally drew more than 5,000 workers to the Michigan Capitol, heavy equipment encircled the building, and a creative “Pothole Payback” contest personalized the cost of inaction for Michigan drivers. The campaign generated nearly 1,000 media mentions, 1.5 billion impressions and more than 3,400 direct constituent messages to lawmakers, and helped secure a $1.85 billion annual increase in road and bridge funding in the FY 2026 state budget while protecting an estimated 30,000 jobs.

Protect MI Care Coalition — When federal proposals threatened Medicaid coverage for more than 2.6 million Michiganders, Bellwether partnered with the Michigan League for Public Policy to launch a rapid-response public affairs campaign. Within 30 days, the team assembled a coalition of more than 275 organizations statewide. The campaign generated more than 5,000 personalized letters and 4,000 phone calls to Michigan’s congressional delegation, secured more than 280 earned media placements with nearly 650 million impressions.

The Best Boutique Agency win comes on the heels of Bellwether’s 2024 Silver Anvil for its work with the Michigan EITC Coalition to expand the state’s earned income tax credit, a campaign that delivered an estimated $385 million in additional support to Michigan’s working families. The firm also won Silver Anvils in 2019 for Voters Not Politicians’ Proposal 2, which ended partisan gerrymandering in Michigan, and in 2020 for the I Vaccinate campaign, which encourages Michigan parents to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases.

In 2022, PR veterans Josh Hovey, APR, Angela Minicuci, APR, and Andie Poole, APR, purchased the agency from its founding partners. In October 2024, the company rebranded from Martin Waymire to Bellwether Public Relations, a name that reflects both its Michigan roots and a clear focus on what comes next.

“We hold the Silver Anvil in the highest regard — not simply as an award, but as a benchmark,” said Angela Minicuci, APR, partner at Bellwether Public Relations. “We strive to do ‘Silver-Anvil-worthy’ work for every client: work informed by insight, thoughtfully planned, brought to life with purpose, and evaluated against meaningful benchmarks. Earning seven Silver Anvils as a boutique agency reflects that commitment. It represents the standard we set for ourselves and the outcomes we expect to deliver.”

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This year, we want to talk about what makes harmony possible.

Because here’s the truth: you cannot find your harmony alone. It lives in the spaces between people. In the teammates who cover for you when you’re depleted, in the work that genuinely means something to you, in the daily practice of learning and growing instead of pretending you already have all the answers.

At Bellwether, our core values are Excellence, Teamwork, Growth, and Harmony. This year, we want to explore how the first three make the fourth possible, and why building our professional lives around these values isn’t just a business decision. It’s a mental health one.

The data shows this issue has only grown more urgent. A PRSA report found that 91% of PR professionals reported poor mental health in the past year. A Muck Rack survey found that half considered leaving their jobs due to burnout, with agency practitioners rating their stress at an average of 8 out of 10. Meanwhile, a 2025 Mind Share Partners report found that employees whose mental health is supported at work are twice as likely to experience no burnout at all.

Twice as likely. The gap between struggling and thriving isn’t about resilience or self-care rituals. It’s about the environment you work in, and the values that shape it.

Teamwork: The Antidote to “Every Person for Themselves”

One of the quieter crises in our industry is the culture of internal competition — the sense that colleagues are rivals as much as collaborators, that admitting weakness is career risk. It’s a culture that isolates people precisely when they need connection most.

At Bellwether, teamwork means relationships are always personal, never transactional, and our work is a collective effort. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. We don’t just tolerate each other’s strengths, but rather, we genuinely rely on them. 

A Gallup study found that having a trusted friend at work is one of the strongest predictors of employee wellbeing, yet it’s far from guaranteed in competitive workplace cultures. When people feel they can bring their full selves to their team, including the days when they’re running low, the weight of this industry becomes something shared rather than something shouldered alone.

Excellence: Doing Work That Means Something

There’s a version of excellence that damages mental health: perfectionism, overwork, never enough. That is not our version.

To us, excellence means immersing ourselves in our clients’ worlds and delivering our best on work, because we actually believe in it. Research consistently points to purpose as one of the strongest buffers against burnout. When you care about your clients and delivering real outcomes and not just vanity metrics for them, the effort you put in feeds rather than drains you. A 2024 Institute for Public Relations study found that communicators whose personal values aligned with their organizations’ were among the most satisfied and least likely to disengage.

At Bellwether, we are fortunate to work on issues and with organizations our team genuinely cares about. That is not an accident. It’s on purpose, and it provides purpose.

Growth: Permission to Not Have All the Answers

One of the most exhausting aspects about working in PR is the pressure to always have an answer or solution to a problem. Admitting uncertainty can feel like weakness.

Our growth core value is a direct rejection of that pressure. We end every day a little smarter and stronger than we started it; not because we had every answer going in, but because we stayed curious and asked for help when we needed it. As we consistently uphold in our media and speaker training sessions: it is okay to say “I don’t know” when it’s the truth. A culture that treats that as intellectual courage makes it easier for people to ask for the support they need, professionally and personally. And when they have that support, growth not only becomes possible, it makes us stronger. 

A Call to Act

We are not writing this to say Bellwether has it all figured out. We are sharing these thoughts because this industry asks a great deal of us, and how we structure our work – including the core values we hold ourselves to – shapes our wellbeing in ways no amount of individual self-care can fully compensate for.

So as we recognize Mental Health Month, we invite our PR colleagues to reflect as we have done. What are the values within your workplace? Do you compete with or genuinely trust your colleagues? Does your work feel meaningful, or are you grinding toward outcomes that you don’t connect with? Does your culture reward certainty, or make room for growth?

These are the structural conditions that determine whether harmony is possible at all.

The choir metaphor still holds. But a choir isn’t just about breathing at the right times. It’s also about trusting the people singing beside you, knowing that when your voice gives out, theirs will carry it.

Find your team. Do work that means something. Stay curious. And most importantly, find your harmony.

If you or someone you know is struggling, free mental health resources are available:

• National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
• 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988
• Online Treatment Finder: findtreatment.gov

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Student practitioners at Bellwether Public Relations gain direct experience in all areas of integrated public relations — from writing and editing press materials to planning social media content and working directly with clients and reporters.

You’ll be considered for the job if you:

• Work well independently and with a team
• Effectively manage multiple projects at once
• Have a sharp attention to detail
• Produce high-quality work

We value excellence, teamwork, harmony and growth, and share a passion for supporting organizations who are making Michigan a better place. We were honored to be named one of Michigan’s top 100 “Cool Places to Work” by Crain’s Detroit Business. Many of our previous student practitioners have stayed on for more than one semester and have gone on to successful careers in PR right here in Lansing, as well as nationally recognized companies throughout Detroit, Chicago, New York City, California and more.

We work with you to create your schedule, with most student practitioners working an average of 15 hours during our fall and spring internships, and 37.5 hours (full time) during the summer. We offer a $15/hour rate and cover other expenses as needed. Our office offers a hybrid work environment where you will be expected to be in the office some days and work remotely on others.

What You’ll Learn on the Job

At Bellwether Public Relations, you’ll secure a well-rounded skill set that is required for a successful public relations career.

• We teach you to research, plan and implement integrated campaigns, using tactics from earned media, digital and social media, community relations and more.
• We give you the opportunity to interact with leading organizations across Michigan in areas ranging from politics to energy, education to health care.
• We teach you what award-winning campaigns look like at a company that has won the top PR award in the nation – the Silver Anvil – 6 times.
• We let you wear all the hats at our nationally recognized firm, giving you exposure to graphic and web design, multimedia services, media training, crisis communication, issue advocacy, event planning and more.

The Ideal Candidate

• Exceptional communication skills, written and verbal.
• Experience writing press releases, op-eds, blog posts and letters-to-the-editor.
• Experience managing social media for organizations.
• Graphic design skills and a working knowledge of design programs, such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop or Canva.

How to Apply

Email your resume and cover letter to Hannah Lupi at hlupi@bellwetherpr.com by Friday, March 6^th.

About Bellwether Public Relations

Bellwether Public Relations (formerly Martin Waymire) is a full-service public relations firm that combines experience and strategy to drive tangible change.

For over two decades, we’ve expanded our service areas substantially, offering comprehensive strategic communications support from crisis communications and reputation management to public affairs advocacy, digital media and influencer marketing. Through it all, we prioritize deep research and measurable success.

Our partners represent a wide range of industries, including social and issue-based policy, healthcare, environment and energy, and education, among others. In short, we create and amplify the messages necessary to inspire long-term, system-wide change.

Because, at the end of the day, we hope our work has left the world a little better than we found it.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Bellwether Public Relations is an equal opportunity employer. Bellwether Public Relations does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

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Tatum Fettig is a senior at Michigan State University studying Comparative Cultures & Politics and Public Relations.

Before joining the Bellwether Team, Tatum worked as a Title IX Communications intern for MSU’s Communications & Marketing Office. Prior to that, she completed a communications internship at Treetops Collective, a nonprofit for immigrant women in Grand Rapids. In these roles, she developed press releases, social media content and infographics to support events and programs at each organization.

In her free time, Tatum enjoys being outside, reading, doing puzzles, and trying new restaurants.

Hometown: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Favorite part of working at Bellwether PR so far: Learning from the amazing Bellwether team and the opportunity to contribute to critical public affairs issues in Michigan.

What she loves most about Michigan: Our national lakeshores and the Eastern Market in Detroit.

What she’s currently listening to: ROLE MODEL, HAIM, Olivia Dean, and Taylor Swift. Also, lots of podcasts!

Connect with Tatum on LinkedIn.

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Throughout the year, our clients navigated constant change, advanced bold ideas, and put in the hard work required to make real progress. We’re proud to have been alongside them as that work unfolded. 

Here are the top moments of 2025 that reaffirmed why we do this work and reinforced our commitment to leaving the world a little better than we found it. 

Top Bellwether Moments of 2025

Jill Dieters Joins as Creative Director – April 2025

This past April, Jill Deiters joined our team from Public Sector Consultants and brought a wealth of experience crafting top-tier visuals for the firm and its clients. She was an immediate hit, both internally with our team and externally with clients, and helped deliver an added level of creative passion and strategic direction that has brought our firm’s visual storytelling to new heights. 

Bellwether Academy Helps Clients Master the Media and Legislative Testimony – June 2025

Knowing our clients are often put in the spotlight to speak to reporters and lawmakers about key policy issues, our firm developed Bellwether Academy to give them the tools to deliver their messages in a clear and confident manner in high-stakes situations. Hosted at WKAR, participants received valuable insight on how to craft powerful messages, anticipate questions and perform when the spotlight is on. They then put those lessons into practice in front of real journalists and elected officials volunteered their time to provide the most realistic experience possible.  

Bellwether PR celebrates one-year anniversary and six wins at 2025 PACE Awards – October 2025

After transitioning from Martin Waymire, Bellwether Public Relations marked its first anniversary with a standout showing at the 2025 Central Michigan Public Relations Society of America (CMPRSA) PACE Awards, earning six honors for excellence in strategic communications and public relations. 

The awards — including three first-place Pinnacle Awards, the competition’s top recognition — highlight Bellwether’s work on behalf of clients that advances the public good, promotes economic growth, and fosters community impact across Michigan. 

​​Top 10 Client Highlights of 2025  

1. Cooper’s Hawk Grand Opening – February 2025 

Following a series of media previews and well-attended mock lunches, the nationally recognized Napa-style restaurant and winery Cooper’s Hawk held a grand opening event at their first Mid-Michigan location on Lake Lansing Road, bringing a fresh new dining experience to the greater Lansing area.  

2. Saab Groundbreaking – April 2025 

With a strong community engagement approach, Saab broke ground on a new $75 million, 140,000-square-foot munitions facility in the Grayling Industrial Park to produce military munitions and systems, marking a significant job-creating investment in Northern Michigan.  

3. Michigan Community Action’s 50th Anniversary – April 2025 

Always leading with a hand up and not a handout, Michigan Community Action, the parent organization of Michigan’s 27 Community Action Agencies, celebrated its 50-year milestone of successfully serving clients in all 83 counties with continued engagement, commitment and dedication.  

4. URC Becomes RU4M and Adds Michigan Technological University – Spring 2025 

After nearly 20 years as a group of three, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University welcomed Michigan Technological University as the state’s newest R1 research institution just before their full rebrand as Research Universities for Michigan (RU4M) in May.  

5. Protect MI Care Vigil – June 2025 

A diverse and dedicated Protect MI Care coalition of over 260 organizations across Michigan stood in solidarity during a peaceful vigil on the Capitol steps to shine a light on the need to safeguard Medicaid funding for millions of Michiganders and Americans.  

6. Michigan Association of Health Plans’ 40th Annual Conference – July 2025 

MAHP’s 40th Annual Conference brought together health care leaders, policymakers, and partners in Traverse City for three days of dialogue and a special 40-year anniversary celebration, underscoring the strength of its membership and the shared commitment to improving health outcomes for all Michiganders. 

7. MITA Rally to Save Our Jobs & Fund Our Roads – September 2025 

The Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association hosted a rally on the Capitol lawn with over 4,000 construction workers and industry partners to urge legislative investment to address Michigan’s need for sustainable, dedicated funding to fix the roads. 

8. MASO/MASA’s Budget Presser – September 2025 

In a show of collaboration and unity, the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity and the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators held a joint press conference urgently calling upon legislative leaders to pass a fair and balanced budget on behalf of Michigan’s students. 

9. Michigan Library Association’s Protect MI Right to Read Petition – October 2025 

The Michigan Library Association successfully collected over 4,300 signatures calling on Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature to defend the freedom to read, support library workers, and protect critical statewide library programs like MeL and MeLCat. 

10. Steelcase Foundation’s Year One Impact Report – November 2025 

The Steelcase Foundation celebrated the first year of its 10-year, $10 million Investment in Families Initiative with the release of its Year One Impact Report, which revealed the powerful impact of centering families in the design and delivery of support systems to strengthen well-being, dismantle structural barriers, and inform scalable policy and philanthropic solutions. 

As we close out 2025, we’re grateful for our team, the trust our clients place in us, and the opportunity to support work that truly matters. These highlights represent just a snapshot of a year defined by collaboration, persistence and shared purpose. We’re proud of what we accomplished together, and even more excited for what’s ahead in 2026. 

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The awards — including three first-place Pinnacle Awards, the competition’s top recognition — highlight Bellwether’s work on behalf of clients that advances the public good, promotes economic growth, and fosters community impact across Michigan.

Award-Winning Campaigns and Tactics

First-Place Pinnacle Award — Community Relations Campaign
“Winning Support for Saab’s Grayling Munitions Project” with Saab, Inc.

First-Place Pinnacle Award — Public Affairs Campaign
“Protect MI Care — Defending Medicaid in Michigan” with the Michigan League for Public Policy

First-Place Pinnacle Award — Social Marketing Campaign
“Seventh Generation Principle: Elevating Tribal Conservation Leadership” with the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians

Award of Achievement — Special Events Campaign
“Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants Grand Opening” with Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants

First-Place Pinnacle Award — Editorials/Op-Eds Columns Tactic
“Addressing Loneliness in Policy Discussions” with the Steelcase Foundation

Award of Excellence — Research Tactic
“PreK for All Research & Strategic Communications Assessment” with MAISA and MiLEAP

The recognition comes as Bellwether marks one year since rebranding from Martin Waymire in 2024. The firm continues to build on its award-winning legacy with a renewed focus on helping mission-driven organizations communicate with clarity, credibility, and purpose.

“This year’s awards are a testament to our clients’ trust and our team’s commitment to work that makes a measurable difference,” said Josh Hovey, APR, partner at Bellwether Public Relations. “We’re proud to carry forward Bellwether’s mission of leading with integrity and delivering results that matter.”

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