diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_main_snapshot.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_main_snapshot.yml
index 1be3a18..7584d04 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish_main_snapshot.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish_main_snapshot.yml
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@ jobs:
           ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_signingKey: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_KEY }}
           ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_signingKeyId: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_KEY_ID }}
           ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_signingPassword: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_PASSWORD }}
-        run: ./gradlew build publish
\ No newline at end of file
+        run: ./gradlew build publish
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_release.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8d9cb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish_release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+name: publish release version explicitly
+
+on:
+  release:
+    types:
+      - published
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up JDK 11
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v1.3.0
+        with:
+          java-version: 11
+      - name: Build with Gradle
+        env:
+          SONATYPE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_USERNAME }}
+          SONATYPE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_PASSWORD }}
+          ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_signingKey: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_KEY }}
+          ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_signingKeyId: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_KEY_ID }}
+          ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_signingPassword: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_PASSWORD }}
+        run: ./gradlew build publish -Prelease=true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 460f260..1a66a85 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@ dependencies {
     testImplementation 'io.opentracing:opentracing-mock:0.33.0'
 }
 
+// -Prelease=true will render a non-snapshot version
+// All other values (including unset) will render a snapshot version.
+def release = findProperty("release")
+version = project.findProperty("version")
+
+if (!release) {
+    version += "-SNAPSHOT"
+}
+
 jar {
     from(projectDir) { include "README.md" }
 
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 1213f5b..4044cd6 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 group = com.newrelic.opentracing
-version = 2.1.0-SNAPSHOT
+version = 2.1.0