diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index edd8f19a..70bba4f9 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 Revision history for WWW::Mechanize
 
+{{$NEXT}}
+
 1.96      2020-02-21 02:23:40Z [FIXED]
     - HTML::Form::find_input() has a 1-based index (GH#293) (Olaf Alders)
     - Fix invocation of dump_forms in mech-dump (GH#288) (積丹尼 Dan Jacobson)
diff --git a/Makefile.PL b/Makefile.PL
index 8f172a8f..236f58f6 100644
--- a/Makefile.PL
+++ b/Makefile.PL
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ my %WriteMakefileArgs = (
     "lib" => 0,
     "vars" => 0
   },
-  "VERSION" => "1.96",
+  "VERSION" => "1.97",
   "test" => {
     "TESTS" => "t/*.t t/local/*.t t/mech-dump/*.t"
   }
diff --git a/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm b/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm
index 19f05494..9091fc52 100644
--- a/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm
+++ b/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ Frequently asked questions.  Make sure you read here FIRST.
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-our $VERSION = '1.96';
+our $VERSION = '1.97';
 
 use Tie::RefHash;
 use HTTP::Request 1.30;
diff --git a/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Image.pm b/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Image.pm
index 74cdfddc..fac9f0ec 100644
--- a/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Image.pm
+++ b/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Image.pm
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package WWW::Mechanize::Image;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-our $VERSION = '1.96';
+our $VERSION = '1.97';
 
 #ABSTRACT: Image object for WWW::Mechanize
 
diff --git a/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Link.pm b/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Link.pm
index 7b3dfe5d..92ff34f1 100644
--- a/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Link.pm
+++ b/lib/WWW/Mechanize/Link.pm
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package WWW::Mechanize::Link;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-our $VERSION = '1.96';
+our $VERSION = '1.97';
 
 #ABSTRACT: Link object for WWW::Mechanize