diff --git a/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/create-project.ts b/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/create-project.ts
index 9892a7b972f..f0fb390126f 100644
--- a/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/create-project.ts
+++ b/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/create-project.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { format } from 'prettier';
 import ObjectID from 'bson-objectid';
 
 import { SuperBlocks } from '../../shared/config/superblocks';
-import { createStepFile } from './utils';
+import { createStepFile, validateBlockName } from './utils';
 import { getSuperBlockSubPath } from './fs-utils';
 import { Meta } from './helpers/project-metadata';
 
@@ -198,17 +198,9 @@ void prompt([
   {
     name: 'block',
     message: 'What is the dashed name (in kebab-case) for this project?',
-    validate: (block: string) => {
-      if (!block.length) {
-        return 'please enter a dashed name';
-      }
-      if (/[^a-z0-9-]/.test(block)) {
-        return 'please use alphanumerical characters and kebab case';
-      }
-      return true;
-    },
+    validate: validateBlockName,
     filter: (block: string) => {
-      return block.toLowerCase();
+      return block.toLowerCase().trim();
     }
   },
   {
diff --git a/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.test.ts b/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.test.ts
index ae05fa5344f..5663bb325b1 100644
--- a/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.test.ts
+++ b/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.test.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ import {
   createChallengeFile,
   createStepFile,
   insertStepIntoMeta,
-  updateStepTitles
+  updateStepTitles,
+  validateBlockName
 } from './utils';
 
 const basePath = join(
@@ -78,6 +79,30 @@ describe('Challenge utils helper scripts', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('createProject util', () => {
+    it('should allow alphanumerical names with trailing whitespace', () => {
+      expect(
+        validateBlockName('learn-callbacks-by-creating-a-bookshelf ')
+      ).toBe(true);
+    });
+    it('should allow alphanumerical names with no trailing whitespace', () => {
+      expect(validateBlockName('learn-callbacks-by-creating-a-bookshelf')).toBe(
+        true
+      );
+    });
+    it('should not allow non-kebab case names', () => {
+      expect(validateBlockName('learnCallbacksBetter')).toBe(
+        'please use alphanumerical characters and kebab case'
+      );
+    });
+    it('should not allow white space names', () => {
+      expect(validateBlockName(' ')).toBe('please enter a dashed name');
+    });
+    it('should not allow empty names', () => {
+      expect(validateBlockName('')).toBe('please enter a dashed name');
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('createChallengeFile util', () => {
     it('should create the challenge', () => {
       fs.writeFileSync(
diff --git a/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.ts b/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.ts
index 3a9b20be8f5..1090d3a88d3 100644
--- a/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.ts
+++ b/tools/challenge-helper-scripts/utils.ts
@@ -201,6 +201,16 @@ const getChallengeSeeds = (
   return parseMDSync(challengeFilePath).challengeFiles;
 };
 
+const validateBlockName = (block: string): boolean | string => {
+  if (!block.trim().length) {
+    return 'please enter a dashed name';
+  }
+  if (/[^a-z0-9-]/.test(block.trim())) {
+    return 'please use alphanumerical characters and kebab case';
+  }
+  return true;
+};
+
 export {
   createStepFile,
   createChallengeFile,
@@ -211,5 +221,6 @@ export {
   insertChallengeIntoMeta,
   insertStepIntoMeta,
   deleteChallengeFromMeta,
-  deleteStepFromMeta
+  deleteStepFromMeta,
+  validateBlockName
 };