diff --git a/db/db.update.13.sql b/db/db.update.13.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f93840c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/db.update.13.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+INSERT INTO `config` ( `var` , `val` , `description` , `year` ) VALUES ( 'participant_project_summary_wordmax', '100', 'The maximum number of words acceptable in the project summary', '-1');
+INSERT INTO `config` ( `var` , `val` , `description` , `year` ) VALUES ( 'participant_project_summary_wordmax', '100', 'The maximum number of words acceptable in the project summary', '2006');
+ALTER TABLE `projects` ADD `summarycountok` TINYINT( 1 ) DEFAULT '1' NOT NULL AFTER `summary` ;
diff --git a/register_participants.inc.php b/register_participants.inc.php
index 9787040..396a5d6 100644
--- a/register_participants.inc.php
+++ b/register_participants.inc.php
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ function emergencycontactStatus($reg_id="")
 function projectStatus($reg_id="")
 {
 	global $config;
-	$required_fields=array("title","projectcategories_id","projectdivisions_id","summary","language","req_table","req_electricity");
+	$required_fields=array("title","projectcategories_id","projectdivisions_id","summary","language","req_table","req_electricity","summarycountok");
 
 	if($reg_id) $rid=$reg_id;
 	else $rid=$_SESSION['registration_id'];
diff --git a/register_participants_project.php b/register_participants_project.php
index fb908c4..d74713f 100644
--- a/register_participants_project.php
+++ b/register_participants_project.php
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ echo mysql_error();
 		$q=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM projects WHERE id='".$_POST['id']."' AND registrations_id='".$_SESSION['registration_id']."' AND year='".$config['FAIRYEAR']."'");
 		if(mysql_num_rows($q)==1)
 		{
+			$summarywords=preg_split("/[\s,]+/",$_POST['summary']);
+			$summarywordcount=count($summarywords);
+			if($summarywordcount>$config['participant_project_summary_wordmax'])
+				$summarycountok=0;
+			else
+				$summarycountok=1;
+
 			mysql_query("UPDATE projects SET ".
 					"title='".mysql_escape_string(stripslashes($_POST['title']))."', ".
 					"projectdivisions_id='".$_POST['projectdivisions_id']."', ".
@@ -92,7 +99,8 @@ echo mysql_error();
 					"req_table='".mysql_escape_string(stripslashes($_POST['req_table']))."', ".
 					"req_electricity='".mysql_escape_string(stripslashes($_POST['req_electricity']))."', ".
 					"req_special='".mysql_escape_string(stripslashes($_POST['req_special']))."', ".
-					"summary='".mysql_escape_string(stripslashes($_POST['summary']))."' ".
+					"summary='".mysql_escape_string(stripslashes($_POST['summary']))."', ".
+					"summarycountok='$summarycountok'".
 					"WHERE id='".$_POST['id']."'");
 					echo mysql_error();
 			echo notice(i18n("Project information successfully updated"));
@@ -154,8 +162,28 @@ else if($newstatus=="complete")
 	echo happy(i18n("Project Information Complete"));
 
 }
+?>
 
+<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
+function countwords()
+{
+	var wordmax=<?=$config['participant_project_summary_wordmax'];?>;
+	var summaryobj=document.getElementById('summary');
+	var wordcountobj=document.getElementById('wordcount');
+	var wordcountmessageobj=document.getElementById('wordcountmessage');
 
+	var wordarray=summaryobj.value.replace(/\s+/g," ").split(" ");
+	var wordcount=wordarray.length;
+
+	if(wordcount>wordmax)
+		wordcountmessageobj.className="incomplete";
+	else
+		wordcountmessageobj.className="complete";
+		
+	wordcountobj.innerHTML=wordcount;
+}
+</script>
+<?
 
  echo "<form name=\"projectform\" method=\"post\" action=\"register_participants_project.php\">\n";
  echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"action\" value=\"save\">\n";
@@ -242,8 +270,19 @@ else if($newstatus=="complete")
 
  echo "</td></tr>";
 
- echo "<tr><td>".i18n("Summary").": </td><td><textarea cols=\"60\" rows=\"12\" name=\"summary\">".htmlspecialchars($projectinfo->summary)."</textarea>".REQUIREDFIELD."<br />";
- echo i18n("100 words maximum");
+ echo "<tr><td>".i18n("Summary").": </td><td><textarea onchange='countwords()' onkeypress='countwords()' cols=\"60\" rows=\"12\" id=\"summary\" name=\"summary\">".htmlspecialchars($projectinfo->summary)."</textarea>".REQUIREDFIELD."<br />";
+
+ $summarywords=preg_split("/[\s,]+/",$projectinfo->summary);
+ $summarywordcount=count($summarywords);
+ if($summarywordcount>$config['participant_project_summary_wordmax'])
+	 echo "<div id=\"wordcountmessage\" class=\"incomplete\">";
+ else
+	 echo "<div id=\"wordcountmessage\" class=\"complete\">";
+
+ echo "<span id=\"wordcount\">$summarywordcount</span>/";
+ echo i18n("%1 words maximum",array($config['participant_project_summary_wordmax']));
+ echo "</div>";
+
  echo "</td></tr>";
 
  echo "</table>";