diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 48e136132..dcd467d4f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -77,9 +77,12 @@ jobs:
           echo "=================="
           echo "${RELEASES}" | jq -rM
           echo "=================="
-          release_tag=$(echo "${RELEASES}" | jq -r '.[] | select(.package_name == "midenc" or .package_name == "cargo-miden") | .tag' | head -n1)
+          # `cargo-miden` owns the GitHub release/tag (see `release-plz.toml`), and it uses an
+          # unprefixed tag name like `v0.7.0`. Other crates may report prefixed tags (e.g.
+          # `midenc-v0.7.0`) which do not correspond to an actual GitHub release.
+          release_tag=$(echo "${RELEASES}" | jq -r '.[] | select(.package_name == "cargo-miden") | .tag' | head -n1)
           if [ -z "${release_tag}" ] || [ "${release_tag}" = "null" ]; then
-            echo "midenc or cargo-miden crate was not released in this run. Skipping artifact upload."
+            echo "cargo-miden crate was not released in this run. Skipping artifact upload."
             echo "release_tag=" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
             exit 0
           fi
@@ -130,7 +133,12 @@ jobs:
   release:
     name: prepare the next release
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: ${{ github.repository_owner == '0xMiden' }}
+    needs: publish
+    # Only prepare the next release if we didn't just create a release.
+    # When a release PR is merged, the `publish` job will create tags/releases and publish to crates.io.
+    # Running `release-pr` in the same workflow run before publishing completes can create a duplicate
+    # release PR for the same version bump.
+    if: ${{ github.repository_owner == '0xMiden' && needs.publish.result == 'success' && needs.publish.outputs.releases_created != 'true' }}
     permissions:
       contents: write
       pull-requests: write
diff --git a/release-plz.toml b/release-plz.toml
index 98d066ed9..89b96e7f0 100644
--- a/release-plz.toml
+++ b/release-plz.toml
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ changelog_path = "./CHANGELOG.md"
 name = "cargo-miden"
 git_release_enable = true
 git_tag_enable = true
-git_tag_name = "{{ version }}"
-git_release_name = "{{ version }}"
+git_tag_name = "v{{ version }}"
+git_release_name = "v{{ version }}"
 
 
 [changelog]