diff --git a/docs/NEWS b/docs/NEWS
index c585cdcb..6cd4548f 100644
--- a/docs/NEWS
+++ b/docs/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Version 2.1 ()
+Version 2.1-beta1 (June 8th, 2016)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     * Added new theme "Timeline".  Timeline is a fully responsive, 
diff --git a/serendipity_config.inc.php b/serendipity_config.inc.php
index aa31fd29..d619e401 100644
--- a/serendipity_config.inc.php
+++ b/serendipity_config.inc.php
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ if (defined('USE_MEMSNAP')) {
 }
 
 // The version string
-$serendipity['version'] = '2.1-alpha3';
+$serendipity['version'] = '2.1-beta1';
 
 
 // Setting this to 'false' will enable debugging output. All alpha/beta/cvs snapshot versions will emit debug information by default. To increase the debug level (to enable Smarty debugging), set this flag to 'debug'.