diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 85db880aa6..a4c9f10b7e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ Changelog
 
 0.11.0-alpha
 ------------
-**Date:** TBA
+**Date:** 2020-03-05
 
-[Title]
+Robust Independent I/O
 
-[Summary]
+This release improves MPI-parallel I/O with HDF5 and ADIOS.
+ADIOS2 is now the default backend for handing ``.bp`` files.
 
 Changes to "0.10.3-alpha"
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ Other
 - migrate static checks for python code to GitHub actions #660
 - add MPICH tests to CI #670
 - ``Attribute`` constructor: move argument into place #663
-- Spack: ADIOS1 backend now enabled by default #664
+- Spack: ADIOS2 backend now enabled by default #664 #676
 - add independent HDF5 write test to CI #669
 - add test of multiple active ``Series`` #686
 
diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 40a9c86fc5..ff901d99a0 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
 # The short X.Y version.
 version = u'0.11.0'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = u'0.11.0-dev'
+release = u'0.11.0-alpha'
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.
diff --git a/docs/source/index.rst b/docs/source/index.rst
index a0d8afe4fc..4f3b2bc205 100644
--- a/docs/source/index.rst
+++ b/docs/source/index.rst
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ openPMD-api version      supported openPMD standard versions
 ======================== ===================================
 ``2.0.0+``               ``2.0.0+``      (not released yet)
 ``1.0.0+``               ``1.0.1-1.1.0`` (not released yet)
-``0.1.0-0.10.3`` (alpha) ``1.0.0-1.1.0``
+``0.1.0-0.11.0`` (alpha) ``1.0.0-1.1.0``
 ======================== ===================================
 
 .. toctree::
diff --git a/include/openPMD/version.hpp b/include/openPMD/version.hpp
index 2871d6def5..ce51adfed3 100644
--- a/include/openPMD/version.hpp
+++ b/include/openPMD/version.hpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #define OPENPMDAPI_VERSION_MAJOR 0
 #define OPENPMDAPI_VERSION_MINOR 11
 #define OPENPMDAPI_VERSION_PATCH 0
-#define OPENPMDAPI_VERSION_LABEL "dev"
+#define OPENPMDAPI_VERSION_LABEL "alpha"
 /** @} */
 
 /** maximum supported version of the openPMD standard (read & write, compile-time)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7c1c4b2436..a10aba33f7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ def build_extension(self, ext):
 setup(
     name='openPMD-api',
     # note PEP-440 syntax: x.y.zaN but x.y.z.devN
-    version='0.11.0.dev',
+    version='0.11.0a',
     author='Fabian Koller, Franz Poeschel, Axel Huebl',
     author_email='f.koller@hzdr.de, f.poeschel@hzdr.de, axelhuebl@lbl.gov',
     maintainer='Axel Huebl',