diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index d2187d1..1c95c41 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 6.1.0
+
+* Speedup `ERB::Util.html_escape` with SIMD on `x86_64` and `aarch64` platforms.
+
 ## 6.0.7
 
 * Fix Ractor compatibility regression in v6.0.5
diff --git a/lib/erb/version.rb b/lib/erb/version.rb
index 2ae8041..daafb2f 100644
--- a/lib/erb/version.rb
+++ b/lib/erb/version.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 class ERB
   # The string \ERB version.
-  VERSION = '6.0.7'
+  VERSION = '6.1.0'
 end