diff --git a/src/emr_cli/deployments/emr_eks.py b/src/emr_cli/deployments/emr_eks.py
index 0f996f7..b05f5ad 100644
--- a/src/emr_cli/deployments/emr_eks.py
+++ b/src/emr_cli/deployments/emr_eks.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import re
 import sys
 from os.path import join
+from platform import release
 from time import sleep
 from typing import List, Optional
 
@@ -19,10 +20,21 @@ def __init__(
         self.s3_client = boto3.client("s3")
         if region:
             self.client = boto3.client("emr-containers", region_name=region)
+            self.emr_client = boto3.client("emr", region_name=region)
         else:
             # Note that boto3 uses AWS_DEFAULT_REGION, not AWS_REGION
             # We may want to add an extra check here for the latter.
             self.client = boto3.client("emr-containers")
+            self.emr_client = boto3.client("emr")
+
+    def fetch_latest_release_label(self):
+        response = self.emr_client.list_release_labels(
+            Filters={"Application": "Spark", "Prefix": "emr-6"}, MaxResults=1
+        )
+        if len(response["ReleaseLabels"]) == 0:
+            console_log("Error: No release labels found")
+            sys.exit(1)
+        return response["ReleaseLabels"][0]
 
     def run_job(
         self,
@@ -32,10 +44,16 @@ def run_job(
         wait: bool = True,
         show_logs: bool = False,
         s3_logs_uri: Optional[str] = None,
+        release_label: Optional[str] = None,
     ):
         if show_logs and not s3_logs_uri:
             raise RuntimeError("--show-stdout requires --s3-logs-uri to be set.")
 
+        if release_label is None:
+            release_label = self.fetch_latest_release_label()
+            console_log(f"Using latest release label {release_label}")
+        release_label = f"{release_label}-latest"
+
         # If job_name is the default, just replace the space.
         # Otherwise throw an error
         if job_name == "emr-cli job":
@@ -70,7 +88,7 @@ def run_job(
             name=job_name,
             jobDriver=jobDriver,
             configurationOverrides=config_overrides,
-            releaseLabel="emr-6.15.0-latest",
+            releaseLabel=release_label,
         )
         job_run_id = response.get("id")
 
diff --git a/src/emr_cli/emr_cli.py b/src/emr_cli/emr_cli.py
index d985eee..ae1f904 100644
--- a/src/emr_cli/emr_cli.py
+++ b/src/emr_cli/emr_cli.py
@@ -210,6 +210,9 @@ def deploy(project, entry_point, s3_code_uri):
     help="Update the config file with the provided options",
     is_flag=True,
 )
+@click.option(
+    "--emr-eks-release-label", help="EMR on EKS release label (emr-6.15.0) - defaults to latest release", default=None
+)
 @click.pass_obj
 @click.pass_context
 def run(
@@ -229,6 +232,7 @@ def run(
     build,
     show_stdout,
     save_config,
+    emr_eks_release_label,
 ):
     """
     Run a project on EMR, optionally build and deploy
@@ -242,7 +246,7 @@ def run(
         )
 
     # Only one resource ID can be specified
-    if resource_ids.count(None) != (len(resource_ids)-1):
+    if resource_ids.count(None) != (len(resource_ids) - 1):
         raise click.BadArgumentUsage(
             "Only one of --application-id, --cluster-id, or --virtual-cluster-id can be specified"
         )
@@ -252,6 +256,13 @@ def run(
         raise click.BadArgumentUsage("--entry-point and --s3-code-uri are required.")
     p = project(entry_point, s3_code_uri)
 
+    # Do a brief validation of the EMR on EKS release label
+    if emr_eks_release_label:
+        if not virtual_cluster_id:
+            raise click.BadArgumentUsage("--emr-eks-release-label can only be used with --virtual-cluster-id")
+        elif not emr_eks_release_label.startswith("emr-"):
+            raise click.BadArgumentUsage(f"--emr-eks-release-label must start with 'emr-', provided '{emr_eks_release_label}'")
+
     # If the user passes --save-config, update our stored config file
     if save_config:
         run_config = {"run": ctx.__dict__.get("params")}
@@ -289,7 +300,7 @@ def run(
         if job_args:
             job_args = job_args.split(",")
         emreks = EMREKS(virtual_cluster_id, job_role, p)
-        emreks.run_job(job_name, job_args, spark_submit_opts, wait, show_stdout, s3_logs_uri)
+        emreks.run_job(job_name, job_args, spark_submit_opts, wait, show_stdout, s3_logs_uri, emr_eks_release_label)
 
 
 cli.add_command(package)