diff --git a/register_participants_project.php b/register_participants_project.php
index 3e6f73f..af4a3f8 100644
--- a/register_participants_project.php
+++ b/register_participants_project.php
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ function countwords()
 
  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);
+ $summarywords=preg_split("/[\s,]+/",trim($projectinfo->summary));
  $summarywordcount=count($summarywords);
  if($summarywordcount>$config['participant_project_summary_wordmax'])
 	 echo "<div id=\"wordcountmessage\" class=\"incomplete\">";