diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 15ec3dec9..014cd670a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-next
+1.9
 ====
 * added basic nvdec support
 * added Pipewire screen capture
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9a7ee50cc..0820bd4ad 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
-AC_INIT([UltraGrid],[1.8],[ultragrid-dev@cesnet.cz])
+AC_INIT([UltraGrid],[1.9],[ultragrid-dev@cesnet.cz])
 configure_flags="$*"
 AC_CANONICAL_TARGET
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.10])