diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 981f6bc..f5f69ba 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,3 +12,6 @@ dist
 htmlcov/
 __pychache__
 .vscode
+venv/
+.idea/
+*.iml
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index b1fde9e..a64cd26 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+0.15.0
+======
+- Enhanced --query argument to match against message payloads prepended with non-JSON data.
+
 0.14.0
 ======
 - New --aws-endpoint-url option to configure awslogs to use services such localstack, fakes3, etc...
diff --git a/awslogs/core.py b/awslogs/core.py
index c97d1b0..9bb97bd 100644
--- a/awslogs/core.py
+++ b/awslogs/core.py
@@ -207,12 +207,22 @@ def consumer():
                         )
                     )
 
+                # Handle JSON payloads that might be prepended with logging info (level, timestamp, etc.)
                 message = event['message']
+                try:
+                    message = message[message.index('{'):]
+                except ValueError:  # Probably not JSON
+                    pass
+
                 if self.query is not None and message[0] == '{':
-                    parsed = json.loads(event['message'])
-                    message = self.query_expression.search(parsed)
-                    if not isinstance(message, str):
-                        message = json.dumps(message)
+                    try:
+                        parsed = json.loads(message)
+                    except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+                        pass
+                    else:
+                        message = self.query_expression.search(parsed)
+                        if not isinstance(message, str):
+                            message = json.dumps(message)
                 output.append(message.rstrip())
 
                 print(' '.join(output))
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6dc9159..d81c029 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name='awslogs',
-    version='0.14.0',
+    version='0.15.0',
     url='https://github.com/jorgebastida/awslogs',
     license='BSD',
     author='Jorge Bastida',