diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index bdc9cc4fd..f9e375e0d 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -7,18 +7,18 @@ The NVIDIA Container Toolkit consists of the following artifacts:
 
 # Release Process Checklist:
 - [ ] Create a release PR:
-    - [ ] Run the `./hack/prepare-release.sh` script to update the version in all the needed files. This also creates a [release issue](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cloud-native-team/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Arelease)
+    - [ ] Run the `./hack/prepare-release.sh` script to update the version in all the needed files. This also creates a [release issue](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Arelease)
     - [ ] Run the `./hack/generate-changelog.sh` script to generate the a draft changelog and update `CHANGELOG.md` with the changes.
     - [ ] Create a PR from the created `bump-release-{{ .VERSION }}` branch.
 - [ ] Merge the release PR
 - [ ] Tag the release and push the tag to the `internal` mirror:
-    - [ ] Image release pipeline: https://gitlab-master.nvidia.com/dl/container-dev/container-toolkit/-/pipelines/16466098
 - [ ] Wait for the image release to complete.
 - [ ] Push the tag to the the upstream GitHub repo.
-- [ ] Wait for the [`Release`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/k8s-device-plugin/actions/workflows/release.yaml) GitHub Action to complete
-- [ ] Publish the [draft release](https://github.com/NVIDIA/k8s-device-plugin/releases) created by the GitHub Action
+- [ ] Wait for the [`Release`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/actions/workflows/release.yaml) GitHub Action to complete
+- [ ] Publish the [draft release](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/releases) created by the GitHub Action
 - [ ] Publish the packages to the gh-pages branch of the libnvidia-container repo
 - [ ] Create a KitPick
+- [ ] For non-experimental releases, schedule the package for publication to the CUDA Downloads repositories.
 
 ## Troubleshooting
 
diff --git a/hack/generate-changelog.sh b/hack/generate-changelog.sh
index c11ec49f6..cd91d3698 100755
--- a/hack/generate-changelog.sh
+++ b/hack/generate-changelog.sh
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ this=`basename $0`
 
 usage () {
 cat << EOF
-Generate a changelog for the specified tag
-Usage: $this --reference <tag> [--remote <remote_name>]
+Generate a changelog for an NVIDIA Container Toolkit release
+
+Usage: $this [-h] --previous-version <previous_version> --version <version>
 
 Options:
-  --since     specify the tag to start the changelog from (default: latest tag)
-  --version   specify the version to be released
+  --previous-version    specify the previous version
+  --version             specify the version for this release.
   --help/-h   show this help and exit
 
 EOF
@@ -33,26 +34,24 @@ EOF
 LIB_VERSION=$(awk -F= '/^LIB_VERSION/ { print $2 }' versions.mk | tr -d '[:space:]')
 LIB_TAG=$(awk -F= '/^LIB_TAG/ { print $2 }' versions.mk | tr -d '[:space:]')
 
-VERSION="v${LIB_VERSION}${LIB_TAG:+-${LIB_TAG}}"
->&2 echo "VERSION=$VERSION"
-
-REFERENCE=
+version="v${LIB_VERSION}${LIB_TAG:+-${LIB_TAG}}"
+>&2 echo "version=$version"
 
+previous_version=
 # Parse command line options
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
     key="$1"
     case $key in
-        --since)
-        REFERENCE="$2"
-        shift # past argument
-        shift # past value
+        --previous-version)
+        previous_version="$2"
+        shift 2
         ;;
         --version)
-        VERSION="$2"
-        shift # past argument
-        shift # past value
+        version="$2"
+        shift 2
         ;;
-        --help/-h)  usage
+        --help/-h)
+            usage
             exit 0
             ;;
         *)  usage
@@ -61,44 +60,47 @@ while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
     esac
 done
 
+# Check that no extra args were provided
+if [ -z "$release" ]; then
+    echo -e "ERROR: --version is required"
+    usage
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z ${previous_version} ]; then
+    echo -e "ERROR: --previous-version is required"
+    usage
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 # Fetch the latest tags from the remote
 remote=$( git remote -v | grep -E "NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit(\.git)?\s" | grep -oE "^[a-z]+" | sort -u )
 >&2 echo "Detected remote as '${remote}'"
 git fetch ${remote} --tags
 
-SHA=$(git rev-parse ${VERSION})
+SHA=$(git rev-parse ${version})
 if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
     SHA="HEAD"
 fi
 
-# if REFERENCE is not set, get the latest tag
-if [ -z "$REFERENCE" ]; then
-    most_recent_tag=$(git tag --sort=-creatordate | head -1)
-    if [ "${VERSION}" == "${most_recent_tag}" ]; then
-        REFERENCE=$(git tag --sort=-creatordate | head -2 | tail -1)
-    else
-        REFERENCE=${most_recent_tag}
-    fi
-fi
-
->&2 echo "Using ${REFERENCE} as previous version"
+>&2 echo "Using ${previous_version} as previous version"
 
 # Print the changelog
 echo "## What's Changed"
 echo ""
-if [[ ${VERSION} != v*-rc.* ]]; then
-echo "- Promote $REFERENCE to $VERSION"
+if [[ ${version} != v*-rc.* && ${previous_version} == v*-rc.* ]]; then
+echo "- Promote ${previous_version} to $version"
 fi
 
 # Iterate over the commit messages and ignore the ones that start with "Merge" or "Bump"
-git log --pretty=format:"%s" $REFERENCE..$SHA -- ':!deployments/container' ':!tools' | grep -Ev "(^Merge )|(^Bump)|(no-rel-?note)|(^---)" |  sed 's/^\(.*\)/- \1/g'
+git log --pretty=format:"%s" ${previous_version}..$SHA -- ':!deployments/container' ':!tools' | grep -Ev "(^Merge )|(^Bump)|(no-rel-?note)|(^---)" |  sed 's/^\(.*\)/- \1/g'
 
 echo ""
 echo "### Changes in the Toolkit Container"
 echo ""
-git log --pretty=format:"%s" $REFERENCE..$SHA -- deployments/container tools | grep -Ev "(^Merge )|(no-rel-?note)|(^---)" |  sed 's/^\(.*\)/- \1/g'
+git log --pretty=format:"%s" ${previous_version}..$SHA -- deployments/container tools | grep -Ev "(^Merge )|(no-rel-?note)|(^---)" |  sed 's/^\(.*\)/- \1/g'
 
-LIB_NVIDIA_CONTAINER_REFERENCE=$( git ls-tree $REFERENCE third_party/libnvidia-container --object-only )
+LIB_NVIDIA_CONTAINER_REFERENCE=$( git ls-tree ${previous_version} third_party/libnvidia-container --object-only )
 LIB_NVIDIA_CONTAINER_VERSION=$( git ls-tree $SHA third_party/libnvidia-container --object-only )
 
 echo ""
@@ -109,5 +111,5 @@ git -C third_party/libnvidia-container log --pretty=format:"%s" $LIB_NVIDIA_CONT
 echo ""
 fi
 
-echo "**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/compare/${REFERENCE}...${VERSION}"
+echo "**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/compare/${previous_version}...${version}"
 echo ""
diff --git a/hack/prepare-release.sh b/hack/prepare-release.sh
index 488e6a27d..ae9ff0e18 100755
--- a/hack/prepare-release.sh
+++ b/hack/prepare-release.sh
@@ -20,58 +20,25 @@ this=`basename $0`
 
 usage () {
 cat << EOF
-Usage: $this [-h] [-a] RELEASE_VERSION
+Prepare for an NVIDIA Container Toolkit release
+
+Usage: $this [-h] --previous-version <previous_version> --version <version>
 
 Options:
-  --previous-version    specify the previous version (default: latest tag)
+  --previous-version    specify the previous version
+  --version             specify the version for this release.
   --help/-h             show this help and exit
 
 Example:
 
-  $this {{ VERSION }}
+  $this --previous-version {{ PREVIOUS_VERSION}} --version {{ VERSION }}
 
 EOF
 }
 
-validate_semver() {
-    local version=$1
-    local semver_regex="^v([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)(-([0-9A-Za-z-]+(\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*))?$"
-
-    if [[ $version =~ $semver_regex ]]; then
-        major=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
-        minor=${BASH_REMATCH[2]}
-        patch=${BASH_REMATCH[3]}
-
-        # Check if major, minor, and patch are numeric
-        if ! [[ $major =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || ! [[ $minor =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || ! [[ $patch =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
-            echo "Invalid SemVer format: $version"
-            return 1
-        fi
-
-        # Validate prerelease if present
-        if [[ ! -z "${BASH_REMATCH[5]}" ]]; then
-            prerelease=${BASH_REMATCH[5]}
-            prerelease_regex="^([0-9A-Za-z-]+(\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*)$"
-            if ! [[ $prerelease =~ $prerelease_regex ]]; then
-                echo "Invalid SemVer format: $version"
-                return 1
-            fi
-        fi
-
-        echo "Valid SemVer format: $version"
-        return 0
-    else
-        echo "Invalid SemVer format: $version"
-        return 1
-    fi
-}
-
-#
-# Parse command line
-#
-no_patching=
-previous_version=$(git describe --tags $(git rev-list --tags --max-count=1))
 # Parse command line options
+previous_version=
+version=
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
     key="$1"
     case $key in
@@ -79,53 +46,33 @@ while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
             previous_version="$2"
             shift 2
             ;;
-        --help/-h)  usage
+        --version)
+            version="$2"
+            shift 2
+            ;;
+        --help/-h)
+            usage
             exit 0
             ;;
-        *) break
+        *)  usage
+            exit 1
             ;;
     esac
 done
 
 # Check that no extra args were provided
-if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
-    if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
-        echo -e "ERROR: too few arguments\n"
-    else
-        echo -e "ERROR: unknown arguments: ${@:3}\n"
-    fi
+if [ -z "$version" ]; then
+    echo -e "ERROR: --version is required"
     usage
     exit 1
 fi
 
-release=$1
-shift 1
-
-container_image=nvcr.io/nvidia/k8s-device-plugin:$release
-
-#
-# Check/parse release number
-#
-if [ -z "$release" ]; then
-    echo -e "ERROR: missing RELEASE_VERSION\n"
+if [ -z $previous_version ]; then
+    echo -e "ERROR: --previous-version is required"
     usage
     exit 1
 fi
 
-# validate the release version
-if ! validate_semver $release; then
-    echo -e "ERROR: invalid RELEASE_VERSION\n"
-    exit 1
-fi
-semver=${release:1}
-
-# validate the previous version
-if ! validate_semver $previous_version; then
-    echo -e "ERROR: invalid PREVIOUS_VERSION\n"
-    exit 1
-fi
-pre_semver=${previous_version:1}
-
 #
 # Modify files in the repo to point to new release
 #
@@ -137,10 +84,10 @@ else
     SED="sed"
 fi
 
-# TODO: We need to ensure that this tooling also works on `release-*` branches.
 if [[ "$FORCE" != "yes" ]]; then
-    if [[ "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" != "main" ]]; then
-        echo "Release scripts should be run on 'main'"
+    current_head=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+    if [[ "${current_head}" != "main" || "${current_head}" != release-* ]]; then
+        echo "Release scripts should be run on 'main' or on a 'release-*' branch"
         exit 1
     fi
     git fetch
@@ -155,39 +102,40 @@ fi
 
 # Create a release issue.
 echo "Creating release tracking issue"
-cat RELEASE.md | sed "s/{{ .VERSION }}/$release/g" | \
+cat RELEASE.md | sed "s/{{ .VERSION }}/${version}/g" | \
     gh issue create -F - \
-        -R NVIDIA/cloud-native-team \
-        --title "Release nvidia-container-toolkit $release" \
-        --label release
+        -R NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit \
+        --title "Release nvidia-container-toolkit ${version}" \
+        --label release \
+        --milestone ${version}
 
-echo "Creating a version bump branch: bump-release-${release}"
-git checkout -f -b bump-release-${release}
+echo "Creating a version bump branch: bump-release-${version}"
+git checkout -f -b bump-release-${version}
 
 # Patch versions.mk
 LIB_VERSION=${release%-*}
 LIB_VERSION=${LIB_VERSION#v}
 if [[ ${release} == v*-rc.* ]]; then
-    LIB_TAG_STRING=" ${release#*-}"
+    LIB_TAG_STRING=" ${version#*-}"
 else
     LIB_TAG_STRING=
 fi
 
-echo Patching versions.mk to refer to $release
+echo Patching versions.mk to refer to ${version}
 $SED -i "s/^LIB_VERSION.*$/LIB_VERSION := $LIB_VERSION/" versions.mk
 $SED -i "s/^LIB_TAG.*$/LIB_TAG :=$LIB_TAG_STRING/" versions.mk
 
 git add versions.mk
-git commit -s -m "Bump version for $release release"
+git commit -s -m "Bump version for ${version} release"
 
-if [[ $release != *-rc.* ]]; then
+if [[ ${version} != *-rc.* ]]; then
     # Patch README.md
-    echo Patching README.md to refer to $release
-    $SED -E -i -e "s/([^[:space:]])$previous_version([^[:alnum:]]|$)/\1$release\2/g" README.md
+    echo Patching README.md to refer to ${version}
+    $SED -E -i -e "s/([^[:space:]])$previous_version([^[:alnum:]]|$)/\1${version}\2/g" README.md
     $SED -E -i -e "s/$pre_semver/$semver/g" README.md
 
     git add -u README.md
-    git commit -s -m "Bump version to $release in README"
+    git commit -s -m "Bump version to ${version} in README"
 else
     echo "Skipping README update for prerelease version"
 fi