Staffers from two MPA newspapers have been awarded a total of $500 in fellowship grants to attend professional training sessions.

The MPA board approved a $250 grant in May to help Sun Media Group, publisher of the Lewiston Sun Journal and Norway’s Advertiser Democrat, send Web Editor Pattie Reaves to a Poynter session, “Building News Applications With Data,” in June.

Also in June, Nick McCrea, a reporter for the Bangor Daily News, attended Investigative Reporters and Editors’ 2012 Conference in Boston, with help from a $250 fellowship grant.