diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 384269d8927b0..0f7aa1f9f1fd6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ OpenSSL Releases
 OpenSSL 3.3
 -----------
 
-### Changes between 3.2 and 3.3 [xx XXX xxxx]
+### Changes between 3.2 and 3.3 beta 1 [29 Mar 2024]
 
  * The `-verify` option to the `openssl crl` and `openssl req` will make
    the program exit with 1 on failure.
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index c62276a414911..4aabd1bec77ff 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ OpenSSL Releases
 OpenSSL 3.3
 -----------
 
-### Major changes between OpenSSL 3.2 and OpenSSL 3.3 [under development]
+### Major changes between OpenSSL 3.2 and OpenSSL 3.3 beta 1 [in pre-release]
 
 OpenSSL 3.3.0 is a feature release adding significant new functionality to
 OpenSSL.
diff --git a/VERSION.dat b/VERSION.dat
index 2abc06dddbd9e..e781294aa38c1 100644
--- a/VERSION.dat
+++ b/VERSION.dat
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 MAJOR=3
 MINOR=3
 PATCH=0
-PRE_RELEASE_TAG=alpha2-dev
+PRE_RELEASE_TAG=beta1
 BUILD_METADATA=
-RELEASE_DATE=""
+RELEASE_DATE="29 Mar 2024"
 SHLIB_VERSION=3