Validating drop down list that shouldn't accept the default value

I am working on a Laravel 5.2 project and I intend to validate a drop down of my categories in a post. All Post should have a category and the default displayed option should not be accepted.

Here's what my select form looks like

<div class="form-group">
        {!! Form::label('category_name','Category:') !!}
        {!! Form::select('category_name',$categories,"",['class'=>'form-control']) !!}

    </div>

My validation rules

public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'title'=>'required',
            'body'=>'required',
            'category'=>'required|not_in:1'
        ];
    }
}

Also heres my table data

<td></td>

Yet I am getting this error,the "category field is required".Even though I chose other categories or leave it at default. Kindy help.

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