diff --git a/lib/competition_ranking_leaderboard.rb b/lib/competition_ranking_leaderboard.rb
index 95f7a96..00347a5 100644
--- a/lib/competition_ranking_leaderboard.rb
+++ b/lib/competition_ranking_leaderboard.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ class CompetitionRankingLeaderboard < Leaderboard
   # @return the rank for a member in the leaderboard.
   def rank_for_in(leaderboard_name, member)
     member_score = score_for_in(leaderboard_name, member)
+    return nil if member_score.nil?
+
     if @reverse
       return @redis_connection.zcount(leaderboard_name, '-inf', "(#{member_score}") + 1 rescue nil
     else
diff --git a/spec/competition_ranking_leaderboard_spec.rb b/spec/competition_ranking_leaderboard_spec.rb
index bcb9b2f..866e38d 100644
--- a/spec/competition_ranking_leaderboard_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/competition_ranking_leaderboard_spec.rb
@@ -184,4 +184,11 @@
       expect(leaders[2][:member]).to eql('member_25')
     end
   end
+
+  context 'ranks' do
+    it 'should return nil rank for unranked member' do
+      leaderboard = CompetitionRankingLeaderboard.new('ranks', Leaderboard::DEFAULT_OPTIONS, {:host => "127.0.0.1", :db => 15})
+      expect(leaderboard.rank_for('unranked_member')).to eq(nil)
+    end
+  end
 end