diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index a894dc82..5933a61c 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,23 @@
 # Major changes to the IOCCC entry toolkit
 
 
+## Release 1.6 2024-10-09
+
+Prep for "**Release 1.6 2024-10-10**".
+
+This is a pre-**Great Fork Merge** code freeze for this repo.
+
+We expect to make one minor change before the full **Great Fork Merge**
+when we replace all references for "_ioccc-src/temp-test-ioccc_"
+with "_ioccc-src/winner_" and replace all links to the
+`https://ioccc-src.github.io/temp-test-ioccc/` web site with the official
+`https://www.ioccc.org/index.html` web site.
+
+Changed `MKIOCCCENTRY_REPO_VERSION` from "1.5.25 2024-10-10"
+to "1.6 2024-10-10".
+
+
+
 ## Release 1.5.25 2024-10-09
 
 Synced `jparse` from [jparse repo](https://github.com/xexyl/jparse/). This
diff --git a/soup/version.h b/soup/version.h
index b4b5b157..6c4d144d 100644
--- a/soup/version.h
+++ b/soup/version.h
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
  *
  * NOTE: This should match the latest Release string in CHANGES.md
  */
-#define MKIOCCCENTRY_REPO_VERSION "1.5.25 2024-10-10"	/* special release format: major.minor.patch YYYY-MM-DD */
+#define MKIOCCCENTRY_REPO_VERSION "1.6 2024-10-10"	/* special release format: major.minor.patch YYYY-MM-DD */
 
 /*
  * official soup version (aka recipe :-) )