diff --git a/.github/workflows/scan.yml b/.github/workflows/scan.yml
index 3b5700ff1..ecee6889e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scan.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scan.yml
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Setup Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v3
+        with:
+          go-version: 1.18.x
       - name: Initialize CodeQL
         uses: github/codeql-action/init@v2
         with:
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5cd083c3e..ba9141bc7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,30 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project are documented in this file.
 
+## 0.26.0
+
+**Release date:** 2022-09-12
+
+This prerelease comes with with finalizers to properly record the reconciliation metrics
+for deleted resources. In addition, the controller dependencies have been updated
+to Kubernetes controller-runtime v0.12.
+
+:warning: **Breaking change:** The controller logs have been aligned
+with the Kubernetes structured logging. For more details on the new logging
+structure please see: [fluxcd/flux2#3051](https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2/issues/3051).
+
+Improvements:
+* Align controller logs to Kubernetes structured logging
+  [#412](https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/pull/412)
+* Add finalizers to the custom resources
+  [#416](https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/pull/416)
+* Add `.spec.timeout` to the Provider API
+  [#410](https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/pull/410)
+* Refactor Fuzzers based on Go native fuzzing
+  [#414](https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/pull/414)
+* Fuzz optimisations
+  [#413](https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/pull/413)
+
 ## 0.25.2
 
 **Release date:** 2022-08-29
diff --git a/config/manager/kustomization.yaml b/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
index 0422ce94f..22a6ba2c2 100644
--- a/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ resources:
 images:
   - name: fluxcd/notification-controller
     newName: fluxcd/notification-controller
-    newTag: v0.25.2
+    newTag: v0.26.0
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index e4e9ce48b..913a45247 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/Azure/azure-amqp-common-go/v3 v3.2.3
 	github.com/Azure/azure-event-hubs-go/v3 v3.3.18
 	github.com/containrrr/shoutrrr v0.6.1
-	github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/api v0.25.2
+	github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/api v0.26.0
 	github.com/fluxcd/pkg/apis/meta v0.15.0
 	github.com/fluxcd/pkg/masktoken v0.2.0
 	github.com/fluxcd/pkg/runtime v0.18.0