diff --git a/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.test.ts b/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.test.ts
index 7989eb48..83703660 100644
--- a/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.test.ts
+++ b/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.test.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ const testEvent: APIGatewayProxyEvent = {
   headers: { "cognito-identity-id": "test" },
 };
 
+const testEventWithInvalidData: APIGatewayProxyEvent = {
+  ...proxyEvent,
+  body: `{"description":"test description","link":"test link","startDate":"1000","endDate":2000}`,
+  pathParameters: { bannerId: "testKey" },
+  headers: { "cognito-identity-id": "test" },
+};
+
 describe("Test createBanner API method", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     jest.clearAllMocks();
@@ -74,4 +81,9 @@ describe("Test createBanner API method", () => {
     expect(res.statusCode).toBe(StatusCodes.BadRequest);
     expect(res.body).toContain(error.MISSING_DATA);
   });
+
+  test("Test invalid data causes internal server error", async () => {
+    const res = await createBanner(testEventWithInvalidData);
+    expect(res.statusCode).toBe(StatusCodes.BadRequest);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.ts b/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.ts
index abc4d6ce..fd4ddbde 100644
--- a/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.ts
+++ b/services/app-api/handlers/banners/create.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import {
 } from "../../libs/response-lib";
 import { canWriteBanner } from "../../utils/authorization";
 import { parseBannerId } from "../../libs/param-lib";
+import { validateBannerPayload } from "../../utils/validation";
+import { logger } from "../../libs/debug-lib";
 import { BannerData } from "../../types/banner";
 
 export const createBanner = handler(parseBannerId, async (request) => {
@@ -19,15 +21,15 @@ export const createBanner = handler(parseBannerId, async (request) => {
     return forbidden(error.UNAUTHORIZED);
   }
 
-  if (!request?.body) {
+  let validatedPayload: BannerData | undefined;
+  try {
+    validatedPayload = await validateBannerPayload(request.body);
+  } catch (err) {
+    logger.error(err);
     return badRequest("Invalid request");
   }
 
-  const unvalidatedPayload = request.body;
-
-  //TO DO: add validation & validation test back
-  const { title, description, link, startDate, endDate } =
-    unvalidatedPayload as BannerData;
+  const { title, description, link, startDate, endDate } = validatedPayload;
 
   const currentTime = Date.now();
 
diff --git a/services/app-api/handlers/reports/create.test.ts b/services/app-api/handlers/reports/create.test.ts
index b38b4ae0..e801c37a 100644
--- a/services/app-api/handlers/reports/create.test.ts
+++ b/services/app-api/handlers/reports/create.test.ts
@@ -61,3 +61,12 @@ describe("Test create report handler", () => {
     expect(res.statusCode).toBe(StatusCodes.Ok);
   });
 });
+
+test("Test invalid report type", async () => {
+  const invalidDataEvent = {
+    ...proxyEvent,
+    pathParameters: { reportType: "BM", state: "NM" },
+  } as APIGatewayProxyEvent;
+  const res = await createReport(invalidDataEvent);
+  expect(res.statusCode).toBe(StatusCodes.BadRequest);
+});
diff --git a/services/app-api/package.json b/services/app-api/package.json
index e6e464e4..7072f0cd 100644
--- a/services/app-api/package.json
+++ b/services/app-api/package.json
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@
     "jsdom": "20.0.0",
     "jwt-decode": "3.1.2",
     "ksuid": "^3.0.0",
-    "util": "^0.12.5"
+    "util": "^0.12.5",
+    "yup": "^1.6.1"
   },
   "jest": {
     "verbose": true,
diff --git a/services/app-api/utils/tests/validation.test.ts b/services/app-api/utils/tests/validation.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ea6a79bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/app-api/utils/tests/validation.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import { validateBannerPayload } from "../validation";
+
+const validObject = {
+  key: "1023",
+  title: "this is a title",
+  description: "this is a description",
+  link: "https://www.google.com",
+  startDate: 11022933,
+  endDate: 103444405,
+};
+
+const invalidObject = {
+  // missing key
+  title: "this is a title",
+  description: "this is a description",
+  link: "https://www.google.com",
+  startDate: 11022933,
+  endDate: 103444405,
+};
+
+describe("Test validateBannerPayload function", () => {
+  it("successfully validates a valid object", async () => {
+    const validatedData = await validateBannerPayload(validObject);
+    expect(validatedData).toEqual(validObject);
+  });
+  it("throws an error when validating an invalid object", () => {
+    expect(async () => {
+      await validateBannerPayload(invalidObject);
+    }).rejects.toThrow();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/services/app-api/utils/validation.ts b/services/app-api/utils/validation.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..40b3c628
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/app-api/utils/validation.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { number, object, string } from "yup";
+import { BannerData } from "../types/banner";
+import { error } from "./constants";
+
+const bannerValidateSchema = object().shape({
+  key: string().required(),
+  title: string().required(),
+  description: string().required(),
+  link: string().url().notRequired(),
+  startDate: number().notRequired(),
+  endDate: number().notRequired(),
+});
+
+export const validateBannerPayload = async (payload: object | undefined) => {
+  if (!payload) {
+    throw new Error(error.MISSING_DATA);
+  }
+
+  const validatedPayload = await bannerValidateSchema.validate(payload, {
+    stripUnknown: true,
+  });
+
+  return validatedPayload as BannerData;
+};
diff --git a/services/app-api/yarn.lock b/services/app-api/yarn.lock
index a061c227..7c58c1a1 100644
--- a/services/app-api/yarn.lock
+++ b/services/app-api/yarn.lock
@@ -3536,6 +3536,11 @@ prompts@^2.0.1:
     kleur "^3.0.3"
     sisteransi "^1.0.5"
 
+property-expr@^2.0.5:
+  version "2.0.6"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/property-expr/-/property-expr-2.0.6.tgz#f77bc00d5928a6c748414ad12882e83f24aec1e8"
+  integrity sha512-SVtmxhRE/CGkn3eZY1T6pC8Nln6Fr/lu1mKSgRud0eC73whjGfoAogbn78LkD8aFL0zz3bAFerKSnOl7NlErBA==
+
 psl@^1.1.33:
   version "1.9.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/psl/-/psl-1.9.0.tgz#d0df2a137f00794565fcaf3b2c00cd09f8d5a5a7"
@@ -3817,6 +3822,11 @@ test-exclude@^6.0.0:
     glob "^7.1.4"
     minimatch "^3.0.4"
 
+tiny-case@^1.0.3:
+  version "1.0.3"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tiny-case/-/tiny-case-1.0.3.tgz#d980d66bc72b5d5a9ca86fb7c9ffdb9c898ddd03"
+  integrity sha512-Eet/eeMhkO6TX8mnUteS9zgPbUMQa4I6Kkp5ORiBD5476/m+PIRiumP5tmh5ioJpH7k51Kehawy2UDfsnxxY8Q==
+
 tmpl@1.0.5:
   version "1.0.5"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tmpl/-/tmpl-1.0.5.tgz#8683e0b902bb9c20c4f726e3c0b69f36518c07cc"
@@ -3834,6 +3844,11 @@ to-regex-range@^5.0.1:
   dependencies:
     is-number "^7.0.0"
 
+toposort@^2.0.2:
+  version "2.0.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/toposort/-/toposort-2.0.2.tgz#ae21768175d1559d48bef35420b2f4962f09c330"
+  integrity sha512-0a5EOkAUp8D4moMi2W8ZF8jcga7BgZd91O/yabJCFY8az+XSzeGyTKs0Aoo897iV1Nj6guFq8orWDS96z91oGg==
+
 tough-cookie@^4.0.0:
   version "4.1.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tough-cookie/-/tough-cookie-4.1.4.tgz#945f1461b45b5a8c76821c33ea49c3ac192c1b36"
@@ -3905,6 +3920,11 @@ type-fest@^0.21.3:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/type-fest/-/type-fest-0.21.3.tgz#d260a24b0198436e133fa26a524a6d65fa3b2e37"
   integrity sha512-t0rzBq87m3fVcduHDUFhKmyyX+9eo6WQjZvf51Ea/M0Q7+T374Jp1aUiyUl0GKxp8M/OETVHSDvmkyPgvX+X2w==
 
+type-fest@^2.19.0:
+  version "2.19.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/type-fest/-/type-fest-2.19.0.tgz#88068015bb33036a598b952e55e9311a60fd3a9b"
+  integrity sha512-RAH822pAdBgcNMAfWnCBU3CFZcfZ/i1eZjwFU/dsLKumyuuP3niueg2UAukXYF0E2AAoc82ZSSf9J0WQBinzHA==
+
 undici-types@~6.19.2:
   version "6.19.8"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/undici-types/-/undici-types-6.19.8.tgz#35111c9d1437ab83a7cdc0abae2f26d88eda0a02"
@@ -4104,3 +4124,13 @@ yocto-queue@^0.1.0:
   version "0.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yocto-queue/-/yocto-queue-0.1.0.tgz#0294eb3dee05028d31ee1a5fa2c556a6aaf10a1b"
   integrity sha512-rVksvsnNCdJ/ohGc6xgPwyN8eheCxsiLM8mxuE/t/mOVqJewPuO1miLpTHQiRgTKCLexL4MeAFVagts7HmNZ2Q==
+
+yup@^1.6.1:
+  version "1.6.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yup/-/yup-1.6.1.tgz#8defcff9daaf9feac178029c0e13b616563ada4b"
+  integrity sha512-JED8pB50qbA4FOkDol0bYF/p60qSEDQqBD0/qeIrUCG1KbPBIQ776fCUNb9ldbPcSTxA69g/47XTo4TqWiuXOA==
+  dependencies:
+    property-expr "^2.0.5"
+    tiny-case "^1.0.3"
+    toposort "^2.0.2"
+    type-fest "^2.19.0"