Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The design for Alabama’s standard license plates will head down south in 2022.

The state’s license plate designs are changed every five years, and 2022 is the year for a new look. The current plate features a design showing off the state’s mountainous regions and Appalachian foothills in the northern part of the state. Previously the state featured a beach scene.

The 2022 license plate will feature a different beach design that includes sand dunes with a beach umbrella, the open ocean and a vibrant orange sunset. The license plate will include the “Heart of Dixie” logo in the bottom right hand corner as well as the words, www.alabama.travel, written across the bottom center of the plate.

The new design will be shipped in December and the plates will begin being issued in January 2022. In addition to the changes in the license plate, the existing colored expiration stickers that are placed in the upper right hand corner will also change. The state previously rotated the stickers between red, green and yellow. But, beginning in 2022, only yellow stickers will be issued.

There are also several new specialty plates that were added, most of which will become available in January.

• Alabama Gold Star Families tag: This tag is available to members of the immediate family of a person who died while on active duty in any branch of the U.S. military.

• Curing Childhood Cancer: This tag was redesigned and proceeds from the sale of the $50 tag are distributed to the UAB Department of Pediatrics/Children’s Alabama to be used for medical research expenses, including equipment, supplies and other research expenses.

• Other new tags included: Albertville City Schools Foundation, Help End Epilepsy tag, Professional Firefighter tag, National Wild Turkey Federation tag, and Support the Arts tag.