diff --git a/VIPSWeb/local_settings_sample.py b/VIPSWeb/local_settings_sample.py
index 124b53b16809e2db79da417009a76616cde84f43..29387183706a25941ba739334c236fcc014fd49a 100644
--- a/VIPSWeb/local_settings_sample.py
+++ b/VIPSWeb/local_settings_sample.py
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ VIPSCOREMANAGER_SERVER_NAME = "vipscoremanager"
 # Set to none if using certificate signed by a CA
 #VIPSCOREMANAGER_SSLCERT_PATH ="/path/to/myselfsignedcertificate.crt"
 VIPSCOREMANAGER_SSLCERT_PATH = None
-
+# Date format for dates from VIPSLogic
+VIPSLOGIC_DATE_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%d"
 
 # Site owner info
 SITE_OWNER_NAME = "FooBar Inc"
diff --git a/VIPSWeb/views.py b/VIPSWeb/views.py
index 318b8cafa4bb11c5b18806a320190fa4a9ceff7f..f7e1dd2b7e00fd92f2755a86ff0d53ab211432e1 100644
--- a/VIPSWeb/views.py
+++ b/VIPSWeb/views.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def index(request):
     messages_by_tag = {}
     for message_tag_id in settings.FRONTPAGE_MESSAGE_TAG_IDS:
         messages = Message.get_messages_by_tag(message_tag_id)
-        print "MESSAGES: %s" % messages
+        #print "MESSAGES: %s" % messages
         messages_by_tag[message_tag_id] = messages
         #for message in messages:
         #    print message
diff --git a/messages/models.py b/messages/models.py
index 2f325fe7ce7c99bf55f8bebc7ba4e7e1692b50b9..222c063b4f415ac23fc33337f1f469527e388b51 100644
--- a/messages/models.py
+++ b/messages/models.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 import requests
 from django.conf import settings
+from datetime import datetime
 
 class MessageTag:
     def __init__(self,
@@ -122,14 +123,15 @@ class Message:
     def get_instance_from_dict(the_dict):
         message_locale = Message.get_message_locale(the_dict["messageLocaleSet"], settings.VIPSLOGIC_LANGUAGE_CODE)
         message_illustration = Message.get_illustration(the_dict["messageIllustrationSet"], settings.VIPSLOGIC_LANGUAGE_CODE)
+        print the_dict["datePub"]
         return Message(
                        the_dict["messageId"],
                        the_dict["organizationId"],
                        message_locale.get("heading","MISSING HEADING FOR LOCALE '%s'" % settings.VIPSLOGIC_LANGUAGE_CODE),
                        message_locale.get("leadParagraph","MISSING LEAD PARAGRAPH FOR LOCALE '%s'" % settings.VIPSLOGIC_LANGUAGE_CODE),
                        message_locale.get("body","MISSING BODY TEXT FOR LOCALE '%s'" % settings.VIPSLOGIC_LANGUAGE_CODE),
-                       the_dict["datePub"],
-                       the_dict["dateValidTo"],
+                       datetime.strptime(the_dict["datePub"],settings.VIPSLOGIC_DATE_FORMAT) ,
+                       datetime.strptime(the_dict["dateValidTo"],settings.VIPSLOGIC_DATE_FORMAT),
                        message_illustration.get("file_name", None),
                        message_illustration.get("caption", None)
                        )