diff --git a/query/reverse.js b/query/reverse.js
index 35b86ade..185d312d 100644
--- a/query/reverse.js
+++ b/query/reverse.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 
-var logger = require('../src/logger'),
-    queries = require('geopipes-elasticsearch-backend').queries,
-    sort = require('../query/sort');
+var queries = require('geopipes-elasticsearch-backend').queries,
+    sort = require('./sort');
 
 function generate( params ){
 
@@ -13,7 +12,23 @@ function generate( params ){
   var query  =  queries.distance( centroid, { size: params.size || 1 } );
   query.sort = query.sort.concat(sort);
 
+  if ( params.categories && params.categories.length > 0 ) {
+    addCategoriesFilter( query, params.categories );
+  }
+
   return query;
 }
 
+function addCategoriesFilter( query, categories ) {
+  query.query.filtered.query = {
+    match: {
+      category: {
+        query: categories.join(' '),
+        analyzer: 'standard',
+        operator: 'or'
+      }
+    }
+  };
+}
+
 module.exports = generate;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sanitiser/_categories.js b/sanitiser/_categories.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f29c9fd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sanitiser/_categories.js
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+
+var isObject = require('is-object');
+
+// validate inputs, convert types and apply defaults
+function sanitize( req ){
+
+  var clean = req.clean || {};
+  var params= req.query;
+
+  // ensure the input params are a valid object
+  if( !isObject( params ) ){
+    params = {};
+  }
+
+  // default case (no categories specified in GET params)
+  if('string' !== typeof params.categories || !params.categories.length){
+    clean.categories = [];
+  }
+  else {
+    // parse GET params
+    clean.categories = params.categories.split(',')
+      .map(function (cat) {
+        return cat.toLowerCase().trim(); // lowercase inputs
+      })
+      .filter( function( cat ) {
+        return ( cat.length > 0 );
+      });
+  }
+
+  // pass validated params to next middleware
+  req.clean = clean;
+
+  return { 'error': false };
+
+}
+
+// export function
+module.exports = sanitize;
diff --git a/sanitiser/reverse.js b/sanitiser/reverse.js
index 117b67d2..9804b4e9 100644
--- a/sanitiser/reverse.js
+++ b/sanitiser/reverse.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 
-var logger = require('../src/logger'),
-    _sanitize = require('../sanitiser/_sanitize'),
+var _sanitize = require('../sanitiser/_sanitize'),
     sanitiser = {
       latlonzoom: function( req ) {
         var geo = require('../sanitiser/_geo');
@@ -10,6 +9,10 @@ var logger = require('../src/logger'),
       size: function( req ) {
         var size = require('../sanitiser/_size');
         return size(req, 1);
+      },
+      categories: function ( req ) {
+        var categories = require('../sanitiser/_categories');
+        return categories(req);
       }
     };
 
diff --git a/test/unit/query/reverse.js b/test/unit/query/reverse.js
index 0380fb85..a2878e94 100644
--- a/test/unit/query/reverse.js
+++ b/test/unit/query/reverse.js
@@ -111,6 +111,72 @@ module.exports.tests.query = function(test, common) {
     });
     t.end();
   });
+
+  test('valid query with categories', function(t) {
+    var params = { lat: 29.49136, lon: -82.50622, categories: ['food', 'education', 'entertainment'] };
+    var query = generate(params);
+
+    var expected = {
+      'query': {
+        'filtered': {
+          'query': {
+            'match': {
+              'category': {
+                'query': 'food education entertainment',
+                'analyzer': 'standard',
+                'operator': 'or'
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          'filter': {
+            'bool': {
+              'must': [
+                {
+                  'geo_distance': {
+                    'distance': '50km',
+                    'distance_type': 'plane',
+                    'optimize_bbox': 'indexed',
+                    '_cache': true,
+                    'center_point': {
+                      'lat': '29.49',
+                      'lon': '-82.51'
+                    }
+                  }
+                }
+              ]
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      'sort': [
+        '_score',
+        {
+          '_geo_distance': {
+            'center_point': {
+              'lat': 29.49136,
+              'lon': -82.50622
+            },
+            'order': 'asc',
+            'unit': 'km'
+          }
+        }
+      ].concat(sort.slice(1)),
+      'size': 1,
+      'track_scores': true
+    };
+
+    t.deepEqual(query, expected, 'valid reverse query with categories');
+
+    // test different sizes
+    var sizes = [1,2,10,undefined,null];
+    sizes.forEach( function(size) {
+      params.size = size;
+      query = generate(params);
+      expected.size = size ? size : 1;
+      t.deepEqual(query, expected, 'valid reverse query for size: '+ size);
+    });
+    t.end();
+  });
 };
 
 module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js b/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
index 20ecbe0c..38417103 100644
--- a/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
+++ b/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ var suggest  = require('../../../sanitiser/reverse'),
                       layers: [ 'geoname', 'osmnode', 'osmway', 'admin0', 'admin1', 'admin2', 'neighborhood', 
                                 'locality', 'local_admin', 'osmaddress', 'openaddresses' ], 
                       lon: 0,
-                      size: 1
+                      size: 1,
+                      categories: []
                     },
     sanitize = function(query, cb) { _sanitize({'query':query}, cb); };
 
@@ -200,6 +201,45 @@ module.exports.tests.sanitize_layers = function(test, common) {
   });
 };
 
+module.exports.tests.sanitize_categories = function(test, common) {
+  var queryParams = { input: 'test', lat: 0, lon: 0 };
+  test('unspecified', function(t) {
+    queryParams.categories = undefined;
+    sanitize(queryParams, function( err, clean ){
+      t.deepEqual(clean.categories, defaultClean.categories, 'default to empty categories array');
+      t.end();
+    });
+  });
+  test('single category', function(t) {
+    queryParams.categories = 'food';
+    sanitize(queryParams, function( err, clean ){
+      t.deepEqual(clean.categories, ['food'], 'category set');
+      t.end();
+    });
+  });
+  test('multiple categories', function(t) {
+    queryParams.categories = 'food,education,nightlife';
+    sanitize(queryParams, function( err, clean ){
+      t.deepEqual(clean.categories, ['food', 'education', 'nightlife'], 'categories set');
+      t.end();
+    });
+  });
+  test('whitespace and empty strings', function(t) {
+    queryParams.categories = 'food, , nightlife ,';
+    sanitize(queryParams, function( err, clean ){
+      t.deepEqual(clean.categories, ['food', 'nightlife'], 'categories set');
+      t.end();
+    });
+  });
+  test('all empty strings', function(t) {
+    queryParams.categories = ', ,  ,';
+    sanitize(queryParams, function( err, clean ){
+      t.deepEqual(clean.categories, defaultClean.categories, 'empty strings filtered out');
+      t.end();
+    });
+  });
+};
+
 module.exports.tests.middleware_failure = function(test, common) {
   test('middleware failure', function(t) {
     var res = { status: function( code ){