diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 7b7264c40..9e2cfe4e5 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+## Unreleased changes
+
+
 ## Changes in 3.0.3 (2023-11-19)
 After a long hiatus and slow development, finally a hamster release
 again! This version contains some usability fixes and makes hamster run
diff --git a/src/hamster/VERSION b/src/hamster/VERSION
index 282895a8f..956ba0f32 100644
--- a/src/hamster/VERSION
+++ b/src/hamster/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-3.0.3
\ No newline at end of file
+unreleased
\ No newline at end of file