USPS Announces 2027 Stamps Featuring Athletes and Mythical Creatures

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

The collection includes tributes to two major figures in American sports history. Pat Summitt, who coached the University of Tennessee women's basketball team for 38 years, will appear on a stamp. Her record includes more than 1,000 wins and eight national championships. Roberto Parada created the oil portrait on linen used for the design, and Ethel Kessler, the service's director of art, handled the layout. Willie Mays, a Hall of Fame baseball player, will be featured as the 50th stamp in the Black Heritage series. Mays played for the New York and San Francisco Giants over a 23-year career. Antonio Alcala, also the director of art, designed the stamp using Getty Images photos of Mays wearing a New York Giants cap and making a catch during the 1954 World Series.

Beyond sports, the 2027 portfolio includes a Lunar New Year stamp marking the Year of the Goat. This is the eighth entry in the third series of that theme, which began in 2020. Camille Chew created paper-cut masks of the 12 zodiac animals for the project. A Love stamp designed by Lisa Congdon will feature bright colors and geometric shapes. Kendra Binney painted four different unicorn scenes for a 16-stamp sheet using a mixed media technique that includes watercolor, acrylic, and pencil. Derry Noyes designed those stamps.

The service also plans a Forever booklet of vegetables and a set of mythical creatures. The vegetable booklet contains 10 color photographs by Renée Comet, including red onion, purple cabbage, and shimeji mushrooms. Ethel Kessler designed that issue. The mythical creatures collection features five stamps depicting the Mothman, Jackalope, Squonk, Sasquatch, and Champ, a lake monster from the legend of Lake Champlain. Nat Power illustrated these figures in a digital style inspired by her work as a tattoo designer. Antonio Alcala designed the layout.

A Halloween stamp featuring a vampire, witch, mummy, and Frankenstein's monster is also in the lineup. Erick Martinez created the illustrations. Finally, a semipostal stamp for Cure Childhood Cancers will direct net proceeds from its premium to the National Institutes of Health. The agency stated that approximately 15,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year. Greg Breeding designed the stamp with an original illustration by Chuck Styles.