The competition, launched as part of the Postal Service’s 250th anniversary celebration and ahead of the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary, invited the public to vote on their favorite of 25 stamp panes from recent years. More than 500,000 votes were cast online, by mail, and at first-day-of-issue ceremonies over a 10-week period.
According to USPS, the Mister Rogers stamp won by more than 40,000 votes over the next closest contender.
“When we issued the Mister Rogers stamp in 2018, we ordered a print run of some 12 million. That may sound like a lot, but Mister Rogers really took us by surprise,” Isaac Cronkhite, the Postal Service’s chief processing and distribution officer and executive vice president, said in a news release. “Within just a few weeks, the stamps honoring this humble, softspoken man had sold out completely.”
Cronkhite said the public response reflected the lasting emotional connection many people still feel toward Fred Rogers and his work with children.
“Fred Rogers often shared the idea that ‘You are not just the age you are. You are all the ages you ever have been,’” Cronkhite said. “Although his show allowed him to speak to millions, his gift was communicating in a way that spoke directly to each child, on subjects both serious and silly.”
He added, “It seems especially fitting that Mister Rogers is the winner because Fred Rogers was a passionately loyal postal customer and a huge advocate for the power of mail.”
Fred Rogers, born March 20, 1928, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, created and hosted “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the long-running children’s television program that aired nationally from 1968 to 2001. Rogers helped establish educational television station WQED in Pittsburgh in 1953 and later developed the program that would become “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Each episode featured Rogers welcoming viewers into his television home, changing into his signature cardigan and sneakers, and introducing the day’s topic before visiting the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.” Through the show’s characters and stories, Rogers addressed children’s emotions, fears, and curiosity about the world.
“Fred Rogers considered the space between the television set and a viewer to be ‘holy ground,’” said Emma Lee, director of the Fred Rogers Institute. “The mail children sent to Mister Rogers, and his letters back, became an essential extension of that sacred connection. Reissuing this stamp beautifully honors the enduring ties he built with his television friends.”
Paul Siefken, president and CEO of Fred Rogers Productions, called the recognition especially meaningful during a historic year for the country.
“Celebrating Fred Rogers’ legacy as the Stamp Encore honoree during such a historic year for our nation is a profound privilege,” Siefken said. “When people use this stamp, we hope it serves as a small, daily reminder of Fred’s enduring belief in the inherent worth of every human being.”
The original stamp, designed by art director Derry Noyes, features a photograph by Walt Seng of Rogers wearing a red cardigan alongside King Friday XIII, a puppet from the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.”
“It’s all about the man, and his universal appeal, which will carry on,” Noyes said. “The best I can do as a graphic designer is to portray him clearly, straightforward, without special gimmicks, just as he would have wanted.”
The newly released souvenir sheet includes four additional Seng photographs featuring other characters from the “Neighborhood.”
