From the USPS (updates are posted below this initial announcement):
llinois Statehood (Statehood series) 
This stamp celebrates the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood. Known as the Prairie State, Illinois became the 21st state of the union on Dec. 3, 1818.
This stamp will be issued March 5th in Springfield, Illinois, with a first-day ceremony.
Updated February 1 from the Postal Bulletin:
On March 5, 2018, in Springfield, IL, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the Illinois Statehood First-Class Mail stamp (Forever priced at 50 cents) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 477100). The stamp will go on sale nationwide March 5, 2018.
This stamp celebrates the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood. Known as the Prairie State, Illinois became the 21st state of the Union on December 3, 1818. The stamp art features an outline of the state map with a series of yellow beams radiating upward like the rays of a rising sun.
The colors on the map begin at the bottom with a deep yellow. The color fades upward to pale yellow and then into pale blue, with increasingly deeper blues rising to the top of the map; the yellows and blues symbolize the dawning of a new day as the state joins the Union. Stars, representing the first 20 states, grace the top of the stamp. The rising sun symbolizes the 21st star. Illinois artist Michael Konetzka designed the stamp and created the artwork. Antonio Alcalá was the art director.
Item 477100, $10.00 Illinois Statehood (Forever priced at 50 cents) Commemorative PSA Pane of 20 Stamps. Stamp Fulfillment Services (SFS) will make an automatic push distribution to Post Offices (in Illinois only) [emphasis added by VSC]
How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at usps.com/shop, or by phone at 800-782-6724. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
FDOI – Illinois Statehood Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900
After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by July 5, 2018.
There is a special postmark design which local post offices may use: 
Philatelic products for this stamp issue are as follows:
- 477106 Press Sheet with Die-cut, $60.00.
- 477110 Digital Color Postmark Keepsake, $11.95.
- 477116 First-Day Cover, $0.94.
- 477121 Digital Color Postmark, $1.65.
- 477130 Ceremony Program, $6.95.
- 477133 Panel, $10.95.
Technical Specifications:
Issue: Illinois Statehood Stamp
Item Number: 477100
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail, Forever
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: Statehood
Issue Date & City: March 5, 2018, Springfield, IL 62703
Designer: Michael Konetzka, Chicago IL
Art Director: Antonio Alcalá, Alexandria, VA
Typographer: Michael Konetzka, Chicago IL
Artist: Michael Konetzka, Chicago IL
Modeler: Sandra Lane/Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Microprint
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America
Printed at: Browns Summit, NC
Press Type: Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 25,000,000 stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Overall Tag
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America, Browns Summit NC
Colors: Cool Gray 5, Cool Gray 7, Pantone 431, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 0.84 x 1.42 in./21.34 x 36.07 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 0.98 x 1.56 in./24.89 x 39.62 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 5.92 x 7.24 in./150.37 x 183.90 mm
Press Sheets Size (w x h): 21.72 x 11.84 in./551.69 x 300.74 mm
Plate Size: 240 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: B followed by seven (7) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate numbers in four corners of pane
Back: © 2017 USPS o USPS logo o Barcode (477100) in upper right and lower left corners of pane o Plate position diagram o Promotional text
Updated February 2nd:
USPS Media Advisory
U.S. Postal Service to Dedicate Illinois Statehood Forever Stamp
WHAT: First-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Illinois Statehood Forever stamp. The event is free and open to the public. Beginning February 8, RSVP to usps.com/Illinois. Please share the news using the hashtags #IllinoisStamp and #IllinoisStatehood.
WHEN: Monday, March 5 at 10:30 a.m. CT
WHERE: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
112 North 6th Street
Springfield, IL 62701
BACKGROUND: Followers of the U.S. Postal Service’s Facebook page can view the ceremony live at facebook.com/USPS.
This stamp celebrates the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood. Known as the Prairie State, Illinois became the 21st state Dec. 3, 1818.
The stamp art features an outline of the state map with a series of yellow beams radiating upward like the rays of a rising sun. The colors begin at the bottom with a deep yellow, fading upward to pale yellow and then into pale blue, with increasingly deeper blues rising to the top of the state’s outline. The yellows and blues symbolize the dawning of a new day as the state joins the Union. Stars, representing the first 20 states, grace the top of the stamp. The rising sun symbolizes the 21st star.
Chicago artist Michael Konetzka designed the stamp and created the artwork. Antonio Alcalá of Alexandria, VA, was the project’s art director.
Here are the first-day cancels for this issue: 
The Digital Color Postmark measures 1.86” x 1.45”
The pictorial postmark for this issue measures 2.73” x 1.49” 
The special (local) postmark measures 2.64” x .94”
Updated April 4th: The Scott catalogue number for this issue is 5274.
On each row of stamps, the third and fourth stamps repeat the first two designs. The selvage also features the transparent deep-sea comb jelly (photo by Gregory G. Dimijian) and the firefly squid (photo by Danté Fenolio). Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps and selvage from existing photographs.
e postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at 
There are 7 
The stamps are unveiled at the Sunrise Theater in Fort Pierce, FL. Left to right, Jeffrey C. Williamson, Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive VP, USPS; Jill Roberts, News Director, WQCS Public Radio; Dr. Edith Widder, CEO and Senior Scientist, Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA); Taylor F. Lockwood, stamp photographer. 
Williamson and other dignitaries sign autographs after the ceremony. 
A set of 10 first day covers canceled at the event. 
The Digital Color Postmark measures 2.97” x 1.38”
The pictorial postmark for this issue measures 2.91” x 1.47”
On February 9, 2018, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the U.S. Flag 2018 First-Class Mail® stamp (Forever® priced at 50 cents) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) booklet of 20 stamps (Item 678200) produced by security printers Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd (APU) and Banknote Corporation of America (BCA), and a PSA Coil of 100 stamps (Item 749700) produced by security printers APU and BCA. The stamp will go on sale nationwide February 9, 2018.
It measures 2.95” x .95”.
Background: 
It measures 2.41” x 1.47”. Here is the design for the pictorial first-day postmark: 
It measures 2.95” x 1.40″. Here is the design for the “special” postmark local post offices may use for this issue: 
It measures 2.82” x 1.48”
Updated February 28th:
The Year of the Dog stamp is the 11th of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Dog begins Feb. 16, 2018, and ends Feb. 4, 2019.
What:
It measures 3” x 1.64”.
It measures 2.86”x 1.30”. This is the first Lunar New Year stamp issued by the U.S. with a pictorial first-day “rubber composition” postmark.
It measures 2.9” x 1”
Background:
It measures 3″ x 1.56″. Here is the design for the B&W pictorial first-day postmark:
It measures 2.85″ x 1.63″
Busy! Busy! Busy! That is what we all seem to be; running from commitment to commitment, keeping up with family, keeping up with current events in this election year so we can be responsible voters, paying attention to the grass, the roof, the siding, taking out the garbage, and a thousand other things that seem to rate high on the Must Do list.
The 
The latest issue of the American Topical Association’s website feature, Topical Tidbits, brings its total pages to more than 300—all available free online. The colorful pages of the new issue of Topical Tidbits take philatelists of all ages south of the border to Mexico, with facts, games, puzzles and lots of stamp images about our southern neighbor.
The pieces were always written for a mass audience, not stamp collectors, and rarely used philatelic jargon. In fact, they rarely used “philatelic” — making it hard to talk about the bigest stamp collecting organization in the U.S., the American PHILATELIC Society! It was kept to one minute, so that commercial radio stations would run it.
