diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/announcements_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/announcements_controller.rb
index a5456a4..cea782b 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/announcements_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/announcements_controller.rb
@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ class Admin::AnnouncementsController < OrbitAdminController
     if sheet.count <= 503
       sheet.each_with_index do |row, i|
         next if i < 3
-        v = row.cells.first.value
-        next if v == "" || v.nil?
+        v = row.cells.first.value rescue nil
+        next if v.blank?
         import_this_announcement(row, categories, tags)
       end
       redirect_to admin_announcements_path
diff --git a/app/helpers/admin/announcements_helper.rb b/app/helpers/admin/announcements_helper.rb
index fc3f28e..8c01d52 100644
--- a/app/helpers/admin/announcements_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/admin/announcements_helper.rb
@@ -33,9 +33,10 @@ module Admin::AnnouncementsHelper
     value = {}
     anns = Bulletin.new
     row.cells.each_with_index do |cell,index|
-      next if cell.nil?
-      val = cell.value
-      next if val.nil? || val == ""
+      val = cell.value rescue nil
+      if [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15].exclude?(index)
+        next if val.blank?
+      end
       case index
       when 0
         anns.category = categories[val.to_i]