USPS Unveils 2027 Stamp Themes

The United States Postal Service announced on Monday the thematic lineup for its 2027 stamp releases.

The collection will honor athletic figures, including Pat Summitt and Willie Mays, alongside artistic interpretations of unicorns and mythical beasts.

Summitt, who coached the University of Tennessee women's basketball team for 38 years, is being recognized for a career that included more than 1,000 victories and eight national championships. Her stamp features an oil portrait on prepared linen by Roberto Parada. Ethel Kessler, the Postal Service's director of art, designed the stamp.

Willie Mays, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, will appear on the 50th stamp in the Black Heritage series. Mays spent 23 years in professional baseball, primarily with the New York Giants and the San Francisco Giants. His stamp depicts him wearing a New York Giants cap and capturing a ball over his shoulder during the 1954 World Series. Antonio Alcalá, another Postal Service art director, created the design using photos from Getty Images.

The 2027 calendar also includes a Lunar New Year stamp marking the Year of the Goat. This is the eighth stamp in the third series dedicated to the holiday, a tradition the Postal Service began in 2020. Artist Camille Chew created cut-paper masks representing the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac for the series. The specific stamp for the Goat uses a photograph of that mask by Sally Andersen-Bruce.

A standard Love stamp will feature a grid of bright colors and simple geometric shapes. Lisa Congdon, an artist and stamp designer, organized the design to evoke folk art symbolism. Greg Breeding, an art director, provided the artistic direction for this issue.

A 16-stamp sheet will feature unicorns in dreamlike forest scenes. Kendra Binney created the four distinct scenes using mixed media, including watercolor, acrylic paint, pencil, and digital effects. Derry Noyes, a Postal Service art director, designed the stamps.

A 20-stamp booklet titled Vegetables Forever will showcase close-up color photographs of ten specific produce items. The selection includes red onion, Savoy cabbage, purple cabbage, purple cauliflower, shimeji mushrooms, purple asparagus, artichoke, Fairy Tale eggplant, rhubarb, and watermelon radish. Ethel Kessler designed the stamps using existing photos by Renée Comet, a food photographer.

A five-stamp set will depict mythical creatures from American folklore, including the Mothman, the Jackalope, the Squonk, Sasquatch, and Champ. The Mothman is associated with West Virginia, where it was first reported in 1966. The Jackalope legend stems from a taxidermy creation by Wyoming brothers in the 1930s. The Squonk appears in Pennsylvania logging stories, Sasquatch is known as Bigfoot, and Champ is a lake monster from the Lake Champlain region between New York and Vermont. Nat Power illustrated the creatures with bold black lines and vibrant colors inspired by tattoo design. Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps.

A Halloween stamp set will include friendly illustrations of a vampire, a witch, a mummy, and Frankenstein's monster. Erick Martinez created the artwork, and Antonio Alcalá handled the stamp design. A semipostal stamp will support childhood cancer research, noting that approximately 15,000 children and teens in the United States are diagnosed with cancer annually. Net proceeds from the additional postage will go to the National Institutes of Health to fund biomedical research. Greg Breeding designed the stamp with an original illustration by Chuck Styles.