diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index ddb2ba56a2854..a44f30b296c8c 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 alpha 1 [20 Mar 2024]
 
  * The BIO_get_new_index() function can only be called 127 times before it
    reaches its upper bound of BIO_TYPE_MASK. It will now correctly return an
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 2521e996b582f..520fb2b85e7ea 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 alpha 1 [in pre-release]
 
   * Added exporter for CMake on Unix and Windows, alongside the pkg-config
     exporter.
diff --git a/VERSION.dat b/VERSION.dat
index 5d5f74c114e42..eac9623123bbd 100644
--- a/VERSION.dat
+++ b/VERSION.dat
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 MAJOR=3
 MINOR=3
 PATCH=0
-PRE_RELEASE_TAG=dev
+PRE_RELEASE_TAG=alpha1
 BUILD_METADATA=
-RELEASE_DATE=""
+RELEASE_DATE="20 Mar 2024"
 SHLIB_VERSION=3