diff --git a/config/controller.yaml b/config/controller.yaml
index 6a3f8ba55fb..bcf7e9a8cc4 100644
--- a/config/controller.yaml
+++ b/config/controller.yaml
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ spec:
     metadata:
       annotations:
         cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "false"
+        # tekton.dev/release value replaced with inputs.params.versionTag in pipeline/tekton/publish.yaml
+        tekton.dev/release: "devel"
       labels:
         app: tekton-pipelines-controller
         app.kubernetes.io/name: tekton-pipelines
diff --git a/pkg/pod/pod.go b/pkg/pod/pod.go
index 0455968a9be..4cd49b098d5 100644
--- a/pkg/pod/pod.go
+++ b/pkg/pod/pod.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/apis/pipeline"
 	"github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1"
 	"github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/names"
+	"github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/version"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
@@ -42,6 +43,9 @@ const (
 
 // These are effectively const, but Go doesn't have such an annotation.
 var (
+	releaseAnnotation      = "tekton.dev/release"
+	releaseAnnotationValue = version.PipelineVersion
+
 	groupVersionKind = schema.GroupVersionKind{
 		Group:   v1alpha1.SchemeGroupVersion.Group,
 		Version: v1alpha1.SchemeGroupVersion.Version,
@@ -179,6 +183,9 @@ func MakePod(images pipeline.Images, taskRun *v1alpha1.TaskRun, taskSpec v1alpha
 		mergedPodContainers = append(mergedPodContainers, sc)
 	}
 
+	podAnnotations := taskRun.Annotations
+	podAnnotations[releaseAnnotation] = releaseAnnotationValue
+
 	return &corev1.Pod{
 		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 			// We execute the build's pod in the same namespace as where the build was
@@ -193,7 +200,7 @@ func MakePod(images pipeline.Images, taskRun *v1alpha1.TaskRun, taskSpec v1alpha
 			OwnerReferences: []metav1.OwnerReference{
 				*metav1.NewControllerRef(taskRun, groupVersionKind),
 			},
-			Annotations: taskRun.Annotations,
+			Annotations: podAnnotations,
 			Labels:      makeLabels(taskRun),
 		},
 		Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
diff --git a/pkg/pod/pod_test.go b/pkg/pod/pod_test.go
index 78bf091578a..168374c7edf 100644
--- a/pkg/pod/pod_test.go
+++ b/pkg/pod/pod_test.go
@@ -322,7 +322,9 @@ func TestMakePod(t *testing.T) {
 				Image: "sidecar-image",
 			}},
 		},
-		wantAnnotations: map[string]string{},
+		wantAnnotations: map[string]string{
+			"tekton.dev/release": "devel",
+		},
 		want: &corev1.PodSpec{
 			RestartPolicy:  corev1.RestartPolicyNever,
 			InitContainers: []corev1.Container{placeToolsInit},
diff --git a/pkg/version/version.go b/pkg/version/version.go
index 5969a2f03d3..6342b175e8f 100644
--- a/pkg/version/version.go
+++ b/pkg/version/version.go
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@
 package version
 
 // NOTE: use go build -ldflags "-X github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/cmd/version.PipelineVersion=$(git describe)"
-const devVersion = "dev"
+const devVersion = "devel"
 
 var PipelineVersion = devVersion
diff --git a/tekton/publish.yaml b/tekton/publish.yaml
index 771bf8a9632..66c9befd179 100644
--- a/tekton/publish.yaml
+++ b/tekton/publish.yaml
@@ -139,6 +139,9 @@ spec:
         ln -s ${TMPDIR}/source.tar.gz ${d}/kodata/
       done
 
+      # Rewrite "devel" to inputs.params.versionTag
+      sed -i 's/devel/$(inputs.params.versionTag)/g' /workspace/go/src/github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/config/controller.yaml
+
       # Publish images and create release.yaml
       ko resolve --preserve-import-paths -t $(inputs.params.versionTag) -f /workspace/go/src/github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/config/ > /workspace/output/bucket/latest/release.yaml
     volumeMounts: