diff --git a/committee.inc.php b/committee.inc.php
index 74578d5..0368f02 100644
--- a/committee.inc.php
+++ b/committee.inc.php
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 <?
 
+include_once("helper.inc.php");
+
 function committee_auth_has_access($access="")
 {
 
 	switch($access) {
-	case 'config': return ($_SESSION['access_config'] == 'yes') ? true : false;
-	case 'admin': return ($_SESSION['access_admin'] == 'yes') ? true : false;
-	case 'super': return ($_SESSION['access_super'] == 'yes') ? true : false;
+	case 'config': return (get_value_from_array($_SESSION, 'access_config') == 'yes') ? true : false;
+	case 'admin': return (get_value_from_array($_SESSION, 'access_admin') == 'yes') ? true : false;
+	case 'super': return (get_value_from_array($_SESSION, 'access_super') == 'yes') ? true : false;
 	}
 
 	return false;
diff --git a/common.inc.php b/common.inc.php
index 5ec4de9..0838359 100644
--- a/common.inc.php
+++ b/common.inc.php
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 */
 ?>
 <?
+include_once("helper.inc.php");
 //////echo phpinfo();
 header("Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf8"); 
 
@@ -195,8 +196,6 @@ require_once("theme/{$config['theme_icons']}/icons.php");
 
 require_once("committee.inc.php");
 
-
-
 if($config['SFIABDIRECTORY'] == '') {
 	session_name("SFIABSESSID");
 	session_set_cookie_params(0,'/');
@@ -244,10 +243,10 @@ if(!$_SESSION['lang'])
 
 //only allow debug to get set if we're using a development version (odd numbered ending)
 if(substr($config['version'], -1) % 2 != 0)
-	if($_GET['debug']) $_SESSION['debug']=$_GET['debug'];
+	if(get_value_from_array($_GET, 'debug')) $_SESSION['debug']=$_GET['debug'];
 
 //if the user has switched languages, go ahead and switch the session variable
-if($_GET['switchlanguage']) 
+if(get_value_from_array($_GET, 'switchlanguage')) 
 {
 	//first, make sure its a valid language:
 	if($config['languages'][$_GET['switchlanguage']])
@@ -518,7 +517,7 @@ if(is_array($nav)) {
 <br />
 <ul class="mainnav">
 <?
-if($_SESSION['users_type'] == 'committee') {
+if(get_value_from_session('users_type') == 'committee') {
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_personal.php\">".i18n("My Profile").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/committee_main.php\">".i18n("Committee Home").'</a></li>';
 	if(committee_auth_has_access("admin")){ 
@@ -528,23 +527,23 @@ if($_SESSION['users_type'] == 'committee') {
 		echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/config/\">".i18n("Configuration").'</a></li>';
 	} 
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_login.php?action=logout\">".i18n("Logout").'</a></li>';
-} else if($_SESSION['users_type']=="judge") {
+} else if(get_value_from_session('users_type') == "judge") {
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_personal.php\">".i18n("My Profile").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/judge_main.php\">".i18n("Judge Home").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_login.php?action=logout\">".i18n("Logout").'</a></li>';
-} else if($_SESSION['users_type']=="volunteer") {
+} else if(get_value_from_session('users_type') == "volunteer") {
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_personal.php\">".i18n("My Profile").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/volunteer_main.php\">".i18n("Volunteer Home").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_login.php?action=logout\">".i18n("Logout").'</a></li>';
-} else if($_SESSION['users_type']=="sponsor") {
+} else if(get_value_from_session('users_type') == "sponsor") {
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_personal.php\">".i18n("My Profile").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/sponsor_main.php\">".i18n("Sponsor Home").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/user_login.php?action=logout\">".i18n("Logout").'</a></li>';
-} else if($_SESSION['schoolid'] && $_SESSION['schoolaccesscode']) {
+} else if(get_value_from_session('schoolid') && get_value_from_session('schoolaccesscode')) {
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/schoolaccess.php\">".i18n("School Home").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/schoolaccess.php?action=logout\">".i18n("Logout").'</a></li>';
 }
-else if($_SESSION['registration_number'] && $_SESSION['registration_id']) {
+else if(get_value_from_session('registration_number') && get_value_from_session('registration_id')) {
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/register_participants_main.php\">".i18n("Participant Home").'</a></li>';
 	echo "<li><a href=\"{$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']}/register_participants.php?action=logout\">".i18n("Logout")."</a></li>\n";
 } else {
@@ -651,13 +650,15 @@ if(substr($config['version'], -1) % 2 != 0)
 		$revision=exec("svn info |grep Revision");
 	}
 	$extra=" (Development $revision)";
-	if($_SESSION['debug']=="true")
+	if(get_value_from_array($_SESSION, 'debug') == "true")
 		$extra.=" DEBUG: ".print_r($_SESSION,true);
 }
-echo "<a target=\"blank\" href=\"http://www.sfiab.ca\">SFIAB Version ".$config['version']."{$extra}</a>"; 
+
+// FIX ME
+echo "<a target=\"blank\" href=\"http://www.sfiab.ca\">SFIAB Version ".$config['version']."{$extra}</a>";
 ?>
 </div>
-<div id="debug" style="display:<?=($_SESSION['debug']=='true')?'block':'none'?>; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre; " >Debug...</div>
+<div id="debug" style="display:<?=(get_value_from_array($_SESSION, 'debug') == 'true')?'block':'none'?>; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre;">Debug...</div>
 <iframe id="content" src="" style="visibility:hidden; width:0px; height:0px"></iframe>
 
 </body>
@@ -1105,16 +1106,16 @@ function output_page_cms($filename)
 	if($q->rowCount())
 	{
 		$r = $q->fetch();
-		send_header($r->title,null,null,true);
+		send_header($r['title'],null,null,true);
 
 		if(file_exists("data/logo-200.gif") && $r->showlogo==1)
 			echo "<img align=\"right\" src=\"".$config['SFIABDIRECTORY']."/data/logo-200.gif\" border=\"0\">";
 
 		//if it looks like we have HTML content, dont do a nl2br, if there's no html, then do the nl2br
-		if($r->text !== null and strlen($r->text)==strlen(strip_tags($r->text)))
-			echo nl2br($r->text);
+		if($r['text'] !== null and strlen($r['text'])==strlen(strip_tags($r['text'])))
+			echo nl2br($r['text']);
 		else
-			echo $r->text;
+			echo $r['text'];
 	}
 	else {
 		send_header("Error: File not found");
diff --git a/contact.php b/contact.php
index 2d0d2b3..33ad91e 100644
--- a/contact.php
+++ b/contact.php
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@
 	return trim($lines[0]);
  }
 
- if($_POST['action']=="send") {
- 	if($_POST['to'] && $_POST['subject'] && $_POST['message'] && $_POST['from'] && $_POST['fromemail']) {
-		if(isEmailAddress($_POST['fromemail'])) {
+ if(get_value_from_array($_POST, 'action') == "send") {
+ 	if(get_value_from_array($_POST, 'to') && get_value_from_array($_POST, 'subject') && get_value_from_array($_POST, 'message') && get_value_from_array($_POST, 'from') && get_value_from_array($_POST, 'fromemail')) {
+		if(isEmailAddress(get_value_from_array($_POST, 'fromemail'))) {
 			list($id,$md5email)=explode(":",$_POST['to']);
 			
 			$q=pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE uid=.?. ORDER BY year DESC LIMIT 1");
diff --git a/helper.inc.php b/helper.inc.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab96214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helper.inc.php
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?
+
+function get_value_from_session(string $key, mixed $default = null) : mixed
+{
+	return isset($_SESSION[$key]) ? $_SESSION[$key] : $default;
+}
+
+function get_value_from_array(array $ar, string $key, mixed $default = null) : mixed
+{
+	return isset($ar[$key]) ? $ar[$key] : $default;
+}
+
+function get_value(mixed $var) : mixed
+{
+    return isset($var) ? $var : null;
+}
+
+?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/important_dates.php b/important_dates.php
index d96c93b..26c555b 100644
--- a/important_dates.php
+++ b/important_dates.php
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 ?>
 <?
  include "common.inc.php";
+
  send_header("Important Dates",null,"important_dates");
 
  echo "<table>";
@@ -31,14 +32,18 @@
  $q->execute([
      ':year' => $config['FAIRYEAR']
  ]);
+
+ $trclass = null;
  while($r = $q->fetch(PDO::FETCH_OBJ))
  {
- 	$trclass = ($trclass == 'odd') ? 'even' : 'odd';
+ 	$trclass = (get_value($trclass) == 'odd') ? 'even' : 'odd';
+    
 	if($r->date != '0000-00-00 00:00:00') {
 		$d =  format_datetime($r->udate);
 		echo "<tr class=\"$trclass\"><td>".i18n($r->description)."</td><td>$d</td></tr>";
 	}
  }
+ 
  echo "</table>";
 
  send_footer();
diff --git a/winners.php b/winners.php
index 61fbc2c..6090d3a 100644
--- a/winners.php
+++ b/winners.php
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@
 
  send_header("Winners");
 
-if($_GET['edit']) $edit=$_GET['edit'];
-if($_POST['edit']) $edit=$_POST['edit'];
+if(get_value_from_array($_GET, 'edit')) $edit=$_GET['edit'];
+if(get_value_from_array($_POST, 'edit')) $edit=$_POST['edit'];
 
-if($_GET['action']) $action=$_GET['action'];
-if($_POST['action']) $action=$_POST['action'];
+if(get_value_from_array($_GET, 'action')) $action=$_GET['action'];
+if(get_value_from_array($_POST, 'action')) $action=$_POST['action'];
 
-if($_GET['year'] && $_GET['type']) {
+if(get_value_from_array($_GET, 'year') && get_value_from_array($_GET, 'type')) {
 	$show_unawarded_awards="no";
 	$show_unawarded_prizes="no";
 	$year=intval($_GET['year']);