diff --git a/gracedb/search/forms.py b/gracedb/search/forms.py
index e9422cfa2b79e5d7027db23229dc685663fe7e36..41a85cb33920bc1e6dba10196f7501dbced234d3 100644
--- a/gracedb/search/forms.py
+++ b/gracedb/search/forms.py
@@ -78,5 +78,5 @@ class MainSearchForm(forms.Form):
             raise forms.ValidationError({'query': mark_safe(err)})
         except Exception as e:
             # What could this be and how can we handle it better? XXX
-            logger.error(e)
-            raise forms.ValidationError(str(e)+str(type(e)))
+            logger.error('{t}: {e}'.format(t=str(type(e)), e=str(e)))
+            raise forms.ValidationError(str(e))