diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index b8735b3d4ed5c..eacdb11defb77 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ OpenSSL Releases
 OpenSSL 3.1
 -----------
 
-### Changes between 3.0 and 3.1.0 [xx XXX xxxx]
+### Changes between 3.0 and 3.1 beta 1 [21 Dec 2022]
 
  * Added support for KMAC in KBKDF.
 
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index e78162217ca4e..da7be5da32f9c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ OpenSSL Releases
 OpenSSL 3.1
 -----------
 
-### Major changes between OpenSSL 3.0 and OpenSSL 3.1.0 [under development]
+### Major changes between OpenSSL 3.0 and OpenSSL 3.1 beta 1 [in pre-release]
 
   * SSL 3, TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and DTLS 1.0 only work at security level 0.
   * Performance enhancements and new platform support including new
diff --git a/VERSION.dat b/VERSION.dat
index a5aadfe5d17f7..59a7933f07aad 100644
--- a/VERSION.dat
+++ b/VERSION.dat
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 MAJOR=3
 MINOR=1
 PATCH=0
-PRE_RELEASE_TAG=beta1-dev
+PRE_RELEASE_TAG=beta1
 BUILD_METADATA=
-RELEASE_DATE=""
+RELEASE_DATE="21 Dec 2022"
 SHLIB_VERSION=3