New aloha shirt postcard stamps depicting Hawaii’s beauty and spirit were unveiled Thursday at the main post office at Honolulu Airport.

Of the five stamps, two feature surfers and their boards, one depicts Kilauea volcano, another shows bird of paradise flowers and the last features fossil fish, shellfish and starfish.

"They’re fabulous," said Wendy Tsuji, adding they represent the imagery of the islands.

About 100 people attended the unveiling of the five 32-cent stamps, reflecting the new postcard rate that takes effect Sunday. Postal officials say the aloha shirt stamps will be the only postcard stamps sold in the U.S. until the next postal rate change.

Dozens of stamp collectors lined up to purchase the stamps and have them hand-canceled with a commemorative first-day-of-issue postmark.

About 30,000 suggestions for new stamp designs are submitted to the U.S. Postal Service annually. Of those, only about two dozen are selected.

In 2001 Dale Hope of Palolo, author of "The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands," sent 1,000 letters to friends, aloha shirt retailers, shirt lovers and lawmakers asking them to write letters to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to support the concept of an aloha shirt stamp.

Hope, a stamp collector, came up with the idea after chatting with a fellow collector following publication of his book. Along with writing letters to congressmen, Hope sent a letter and a copy of his book to Carl Herrman, who designed the Duke Kahanamoku stamp and ended up designing the shirt stamps as well.

Herrman selected five images out of the 500-plus photographs of aloha shirts in Hope’s book to design the postcard stamps.

After the ceremony Hope said, "It’s a dream come true to see this happen. It took 11 years, and I never really thought I was ever going to see it in my lifetime. I just thought we were one of the 30,000, times 10 years. It’s 300,000 requests. To make it through all those odds is pretty amazing."

Ric Noyle, who photographed all of the aloha shirts featured in Hope’s book, said he is honored his work is featured in a stamp that will be seen worldwide.

"I never dreamt I would have a U.S. stamp," said, Noyle, who has a studio in Kaimuki. "It’s a privilege."