Can't insert checkboxes into mysql database - php

Question

I have these checkboxes that I am trying to (ultimately concat two together and) insert into a database. I've tried several ways and have searched through many pages, but my page keeps breaking when I try to insert. I'm not actually getting an error in my apache log, but a message is triggered that makes me believe it's some kind of sql error (the else statement at the end, which is a check if the query affected any rows). The error isn't thrown until I add the foreach and additional awards to the query .
Here is the form section
<label><input type="checkbox" name="check_list[]" Value = "Castle Connolly Top U.S. Doctor" />Castle Connolly Top U.S. Doctor</label>
<!-- <input type="text" name="check_year" value="<php echo decode_text($check_year);?>"/> -->
<label><input type="checkbox" name="check_list[]" Value = "Vitals Patients Choice"/>Vitals Patient's Choice</label>
<!--<input type="text" name="check_year" value="<php echo decode_text($check_year);?>"/> -->
<label><input type="checkbox" name="check_list[]" Value = "Vitals Compassionate Doctor"/>Vital's Compassionate Doctor Recognition</label>
<!--<input type="text" name="check_year" value="<php echo decode_text($check_year);?>"/> -->
<label><input type="checkbox" name="check_list[]" Value = "Super Doctor"/>Super Doctor</label>
<!--<input type="text" name="check_year" value <php echo decode_text($check_year);?>"/> -->
inserting
$additional_awards = '';
$check_list = $_POST['check_list'];
foreach($check_list as $check)
{
$additional_awards .= $check.", ";
}
// insert new user
$sql = 'INSERT INTO docflight_doctors (
email,
user_name,
user_password,
additional_awards,
preferred_language,
date_created,
registered_from_ip,
last_logged_ip,
is_active,
is_removed,
comments,
registration_code )
VALUES(
\''.encode_text($email).'\',
\''.encode_text($user_name).'\',
\''.$user_password.'\',
\''.$additional_awards.'\',
\''.Application::Get('lang').'\',
\''.date('Y-m-d H:i:s').'\',
\''.$user_ip.'\',
\'\',
'.$is_active.',
0,
\'\',
\''.$registration_code.'\')';
if(database_void_query($sql) > 0){
/// do other stuff
else{
///echo mysql_error();
$msg = draw_important_message(_CREATING_ACCOUNT_ERROR, false);
FIXED, \''.$user_password.'\', should have been '.$user_password.', for some reason ....