diff --git a/application/controllers/private/Projects.php b/application/controllers/private/Projects.php
index e0f5c8c3..c4ae874b 100644
--- a/application/controllers/private/Projects.php
+++ b/application/controllers/private/Projects.php
@@ -164,6 +164,23 @@ function update_project()
 
 		if (empty($fields['id'])) $this->ajax_output(array('message' => 'Requires project id'), false);
 
+		if (isset($fields['status']) && $fields['status'] == 'validation')
+                {
+                        $this->load->library('catalog_item');
+                        $this->load->model('project_model');
+                        $project_search = $this->project_model->search(
+                                array('projectid' => $fields['id'])
+                        );
+
+                        if (empty($project_search)) $this->ajax_output(array('message' => 'Project id not found'), false);
+
+                        $project_info = $project_search[0];
+
+                        $project_info['status'] = $fields['status'];
+
+                        $debugdata = $this->catalog_item->alter_status($project_info);
+                }
+
 		if (isset($fields['status']) && $fields['status'] == 'complete')
 		{
 			$today = new DateTime();
diff --git a/application/libraries/Catalog_item.php b/application/libraries/Catalog_item.php
index 7139a334..47c86cc4 100644
--- a/application/libraries/Catalog_item.php
+++ b/application/libraries/Catalog_item.php
@@ -52,6 +52,22 @@ public function alter_data($data)
 	}
 
 
+	public function alter_status($data)
+        {
+                $retval = array();
+
+                $project_info = $this->ci->project_model->search(array('projectid' => $data['id']))[0];
+                $project_info['status'] = $data['status'];
+
+                $project_info = $this->_create_project_slug($project_info);
+                $project_id = $this->_update_or_insert('id', 'project_model', $project_info);
+                $retval['project_id'] = $project_id;
+                $retval['status'] = $project_info['status'];
+                $retval['url_librivox'] = $project_info['url_librivox'];
+                return $project_info;
+        }
+
+
     public function _prep_date($date_string)
     {
         // 0000-00-00 appears to break DateTime::createFromFormat (it returns