CONTACT: Mark D. Sullivan / Jeremy C. Little

On the Mark Communications

713-978-5050

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CLIFFORD PUGH

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CULTUREMAP

;

During a versatile journalism career, Pugh has interviewed hundreds of celebrities, ranging from Barbara Bush in the White House to Julia Child in Robert del Grande's kitchen, and covered a wide variety of important Houston events, from the 1987 opening of the Wortham Theater Center to the courtroom scene when Enron officials Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were found guilty in 2006. Pugh also covered the Clinton, Bush and Reagan inaugurations in Washington, D.C., the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, and fashion shows in New York, Milan and Paris, where he is on a first-name basis with such designers as Diane von Furstenberg and Zac Posen.

Pugh grew up in Osceola, Arkansas, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee.  He holds a bachelor of arts in economics from Rhodes College in Memphis and received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

Pugh moved to Houston in 1980 and began his career in journalism as a features writer for the Houston Post where he worked until 1995 and later as the award-winning style critic at the Houston Chronicle for 14 years – covering fashion and all things-pop culture.

Pugh has twice won the Texas Headliners Award for best feature writing in the state and has been honored with awards from the Houston Press Club, the Texas Cancer Society, the American Dental Association and the Associated Press Managing Editors organization.

As editorial director, Pugh brings his unique perspective of Houston and the world to CultureMap readers. CultureMap – which debuts in Fall 2009 – will include innovative features, thought-provoking columns and up-to-the-minute information about the best Houston has to offer in food, fashion, society, the arts, architecture and real estate.

###