diff --git a/.github/scripts/count-reward.ts b/.github/scripts/count-reward.ts
index a6448cbc9..348e9c63b 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/count-reward.ts
+++ b/.github/scripts/count-reward.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { $, YAML } from "npm:zx";
 
+import { createDetachedCommit } from "./git.ts";
 import { Reward } from "./type.ts";
 
 $.verbose = true;
@@ -57,10 +58,12 @@ const tagName = `statistic-${new Date().toJSON().slice(0, 7)}`;
 await $`git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"`;
 await $`git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"`;
 
-await $`git tag -a ${tagName} $(git rev-parse HEAD) -m ${summaryText}`;
+const tagTarget = await createDetachedCommit(tagName);
+await $`git tag -a ${tagName} ${tagTarget} -m ${summaryText}`;
 await $`git push origin --tags --no-verify`;
 
 await $`git config unset user.name`;
 await $`git config unset user.email`;
 
-await $`gh release create ${tagName} --notes ${summaryText}`;
+// Keep "Latest" pointing at the newest product release
+await $`gh release create ${tagName} --latest=false --notes ${summaryText}`;
diff --git a/.github/scripts/git.ts b/.github/scripts/git.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aebbd463f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/git.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { $ } from "npm:zx";
+
+/**
+ * Create a parentless commit with an empty tree to carry reward/statistic tags.
+ *
+ * Tags pointing at product commits become the nearest tag in `git describe`,
+ * so downstream builds would report versions like `reward-42-3-gabc1234`
+ * instead of the latest release tag. Tags on a detached commit are never
+ * reachable from any branch and keep release tags authoritative.
+ */
+export async function createDetachedCommit(message: string) {
+  const emptyTree = (await $`git hash-object -w -t tree /dev/null`).stdout.trim();
+
+  return (await $`git commit-tree ${emptyTree} -m ${message}`).stdout.trim();
+}
diff --git a/.github/scripts/share-reward.ts b/.github/scripts/share-reward.ts
index 018974482..da1ab20ff 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/share-reward.ts
+++ b/.github/scripts/share-reward.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import "npm:array-unique-proposal";
 import { components } from "npm:@octokit/openapi-types";
 import { $, argv, YAML } from "npm:zx";
 
+import { createDetachedCommit } from "./git.ts";
 import { Reward } from "./type.ts";
 
 $.verbose = true;
@@ -110,7 +111,10 @@ console.log(listText);
 await $`git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"`;
 await $`git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"`;
 
-await $`git tag -a "reward-${issueNumber}" ${mergeCommitSha} -m ${listText}`;
+const tagTarget = await createDetachedCommit(
+  `reward-${issueNumber}: merged in ${mergeCommitSha}`,
+);
+await $`git tag -a "reward-${issueNumber}" ${tagTarget} -m ${listText}`;
 await $`git push origin --tags --no-verify`;
 
 await $`git config unset user.name`;
diff --git a/.github/workflows/statistic-member-reward.yml b/.github/workflows/statistic-member-reward.yml
index 09e5b88fc..2b9bc8837 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/statistic-member-reward.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/statistic-member-reward.yml
@@ -14,30 +14,12 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
           fetch-tags: true
 
-      - name: Check for new commits since last statistic
-        run: |
-          last_tag=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 --match "statistic-*" || echo "")
-
-          if [ -z "$last_tag" ]; then
-            echo "No previous statistic tags found."
-            echo "NEW_COMMITS=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-          else
-            new_commits=$(git log $last_tag..HEAD --oneline)
-            if [ -z "$new_commits" ]; then
-              echo "No new commits since last statistic tag."
-              echo "NEW_COMMITS=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-            else
-              echo "New commits found."
-              echo "NEW_COMMITS=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-            fi
-          fi
+      # count-reward.ts exits early when no reward tags were created last month
       - uses: denoland/setup-deno@667a34cdef165d8d2b2e98dde39547c9daac7282 # v2.0.4
-        if: env.NEW_COMMITS == 'true'
         with:
           deno-version: v2.x
 
       - name: Statistic rewards
-        if: env.NEW_COMMITS == 'true'
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: deno --allow-run --allow-sys --allow-env --allow-read --allow-net=api.github.com .github/scripts/count-reward.ts