diff --git a/base/pom.xml b/base/pom.xml
index 65b0531..6f2db10 100644
--- a/base/pom.xml
+++ b/base/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson</groupId>
     <artifactId>jackson-bom</artifactId>
-    <version>2.16.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>2.16.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
   <artifactId>jackson-base</artifactId>
   <name>Jackson Base</name>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 5d8bba8..e8432bc 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
     <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson</groupId>
     <artifactId>jackson-parent</artifactId>
     <!-- note: does NOT change for every version of bom -->
-    <version>2.16-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>2.16-rc1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>jackson-bom</artifactId>
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   <description>Bill of Materials pom for getting full, complete set of compatible versions
 of Jackson components maintained by FasterXML.com
   </description>
-  <version>2.16.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>2.16.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
   <modules>
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ of Jackson components maintained by FasterXML.com
   </scm>
 
   <properties>
-    <jackson.version>2.16.0-SNAPSHOT</jackson.version>
+    <jackson.version>2.16.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT</jackson.version>
 
     <!-- 25-Sep-2019, tatu: With Jackson 2.x we will release full patch-level versions
            of annotations BUT they are all identical, content-wise.