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How to Nominate Someone for a US Postage Stamp

The U.S. Postal Service has just one route for getting a face on a stamp for general issue: the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee. This group of no more than 15 people, appointed by the postmaster general, receives as many as 40,000 nominations a year and selects an average of 20 stamps for issue in four meetings of two days each. The CSAC has no staff of its own, but is supported by the staff of the USPS Stamp Development group.

Things You'll Need

Hard-copy materials for mailing
Postage

Instructions

- 1
  Start at least three years before a significant anniversary of your nominee's birth or major accomplishment. The Postal Service generally issues commemoratives on such anniversaries, and it takes that long for the CSAC to approve a nomination and commission art for the stamp.
- 2
  Make sure your nominee meets the CSAC's criteria, a 14-point list under development since the 1970s. One of the top criteria is that the nominee must be dead, and for at least two years, so she will have been dead at least five years before the stamp is issued. The only exception is a memorial stamp issued on the first birthday after the death of a former president of the United States. The nominee must also not have been commemorated with a stamp within 50 years.
- 3
  Document the significance of your nominee's contributions to the nation as a whole. The Postal Service particularly encourages nominations of individuals "who have overcome great challenges or active discrimination to enter a field or accomplish an aim and thus created opportunities thereafter for others."
- 4
  Write a letter, collect signatures on a petition, or send a postcard with your nomination to the CSAC, c/o Stamp Development, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 3300, Washington, DC 20260-3501. There are no deadlines for submission; if your nomination passes the Stamp Development staff, it will be added to the CSAC's agenda for its next meeting. It does not consider email nominations.

Stamp Collecting