diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a952d992418..f36aacb816d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,29 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.8.0-alpha] - 10/21/2021
+
+**WARNING: Alpha releases may contain bugs and no guarantee is made about API stability. They are not recommended for production use!**
+
+### Breaking changes
+* require a resolved configuration [#351](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/351)
+
+### New features
+* detect region from active AWS profile [#344](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/344)
+* ec2 imds region provider [#341](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/341)
+* Add STS assume role and web identity credential providers [#352](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/352)
+* ECS credential provider [#353](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/353)
+* ec2 credentials provider [#348](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/348)
+
+### Fixes
+* use wrapped response when deserializing modeled exceptions [#358](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/358)
+* switch from ULong to Long in public presigner API for better java interop [#359](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/359)
+
+### Misc
+* Bump Kotlin and Dokka versions to latest release [#360](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/360)
+* update aws models [#347](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/347)
+* add docs for enabling logging in unit tests [#339](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/339)
+
+
 ## [0.7.0-alpha] - 10/14/2021
 
 **WARNING: Alpha releases may contain bugs and no guarantee is made about API stability. They are not recommended for production use!**
diff --git a/docs/GettingStarted.md b/docs/GettingStarted.md
index c407c8424a2..1d11f99a1de 100644
--- a/docs/GettingStarted.md
+++ b/docs/GettingStarted.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Consult the [stability guide](stability.md) for more information on SDK stabilit
     ```kt
     # file: my-project/build.gradle.kts
 
-    val awsKotlinSdkVersion = "0.7.0-alpha"
+    val awsKotlinSdkVersion = "0.8.0-alpha"
     // OR put it in gradle.properties
     // val awsKotlinSdkVersion: String by project
 
diff --git a/examples/build.gradle.kts b/examples/build.gradle.kts
index dd405faee2e..a9877c7be02 100644
--- a/examples/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/examples/build.gradle.kts
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ plugins {
     kotlin("jvm") version "1.5.31"
 }
 
+val awsSdkKotlinVersion: String by project
+
 allprojects {
     group = "aws.sdk.kotlin.example"
-    version = "0.7.1-SNAPSHOT"
+    version = awsSdkKotlinVersion
 
     repositories {
         mavenLocal()
diff --git a/examples/gradle.properties b/examples/gradle.properties
index fcef0cc3c85..f4f4b0df8d5 100644
--- a/examples/gradle.properties
+++ b/examples/gradle.properties
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 
 # AWS SDK
-awsSdkKotlinVersion=0.7.1-SNAPSHOT
+awsSdkKotlinVersion=0.8.0-alpha
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 1edf2661bcf..4704ef52464 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ kotlin.native.ignoreDisabledTargets=true
 org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx6g -XX:MaxPermSize=6g -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=1G
 
 # sdk
-sdkVersion=0.7.1-SNAPSHOT
+sdkVersion=0.8.0-alpha
 
 # codegen
 smithyVersion=1.9.1
 smithyGradleVersion=0.5.3
 # smithy-kotlin codegen and runtime are versioned together
-smithyKotlinVersion=0.5.2-SNAPSHOT
+smithyKotlinVersion=0.6.0-alpha
 
 # kotlin
 kotlinVersion=1.5.31
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ atomicFuVersion=0.16.1
 kotlinxSerializationVersion=1.3.0
 
 # crt
-crtKotlinVersion=0.4.2-SNAPSHOT
+crtKotlinVersion=0.5.0-alpha
 
 # testing/utility
 junitVersion=5.6.2