diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release.md
index ceca5067..cb751335 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release.md
@@ -25,3 +25,5 @@ What to do after a release:
 - [ ] merge `main` down into `develop` to ensure `setuptools_scm` finds the latest release tag
 - [ ] update the pace PR from the pre-commit checklist to include the released version of NDSL and merge it.
 - [ ] merge breaking changes in NDSL (e.g. search for deprecation warnings)
+- [ ] update the pinned version of [pyFV3](https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/PyFV3/) to the new release-tag
+- [ ] update the pinned version of [pySHiELD](https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/pySHiELD) to the new release-tag