Add design contest announcement (#240)

* Add design contest announcement

* Review fixes

* Update source/_posts/2025-10-01-design-contest.md

Co-authored-by: Luffy <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: Luffy <[email protected]>

Author: pronskiy

source/_posts/2025-10-01-design-contest.md

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+---
+title: 'Call for Designs: Refresh the PHP 8.5 Release Page'
+layout: post
+tags:
+  - news
+author:
+  - name: Roman Pronskiy
+    url: https://twitter.com/pronskiy
+
+published_at: 1 October 2025
+
+---
+
+<div class="flex justify-center mb-4">
+    <a href="https://x.com/pronskiy/status/1877672616355340392" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="/assets/post-images/2025/website_redesign.png" width="500" alt="Website Redesign Twitter" class="shadow-md rounded-lg"/></a>
+</div>
+
+Redesign [php.net](https://www.php.net/)? We hear you. Let’s start small and ship something great: a refreshed PHP 8.5 release page. The [8.0-era page](https://externals.io/message/112026#112026) built with community contributors and [JetBrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/?utm_source=thephp.foundation&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=phpstorm&utm_content=refreshing-php-release-webpage) set the tone for 8.x. It’s held up, but 8.5 is a good moment to modernize: modern, clean, fast, inspiring.
+
+We’re opening a design contest and you, the community, will help choose the winner. Read on for how to enter.
+
+## Prizes
+
+* **🥇 Grand prize: USD $1,000 sponsored by JetBrains**
+* Honorable mentions (credit in the footer of the page)
+
+## What we’re looking for
+
+A modern, lightweight design for the PHP 8.5 release page that:
+
+* Keeps things simple: vanilla HTML/CSS, minimal/no JS, **no new build tools or frameworks**.
+* Mobile-first & fast: responsive layouts, small assets, system fonts.
+* Localizable: works with multiple languages, avoids text baked into images.
+* Content-first: use existing [8.5 content](https://github.com/php/web-php/pull/1454) as data.
+* On-brand: feels at home on php.net; tasteful, unobtrusive visuals.
+* Maintainable: straightforward markup that future contributors can edit.
+
+Nice-to-have: a visual approach that can evolve for future releases (e.g., PHP 9.x).
+
+## What to submit
+
+Please submit designs first (we’re not judging big code drops):
+
+* Mockups or prototype (Issue to [php/web-php](https://github.com/php/web-php/issues/new?template=design-contest.yml)).
+* A short rationale (why this layout, how it meets the criteria).
+* You can also link to PR with the implementation.   
+  Keep the code small and clean. We won’t review large generated codebases.
+
+## How to submit
+
+Create a GitHub Issue in the [php/web-php](https://github.com/php/web-php) repository using [Design Contest template](https://github.com/php/web-php/issues/new?template=design-contest.yml):
+
+<div class="flex justify-center mb-4">
+    <img width="600" src="/assets/post-images/2025/contest_issue.png" class="shadow-md rounded-lg"/>
+</div>
+
+Include:  
+
+* Link(s) to mockups/prototype  
+* 3–5 screenshots (desktop/mobile)  
+* Rationale (300–600 words)  
+* Your name (and teammates, if any)  
+
+See a pinned [contest tracking issue](https://github.com/php/web-php/issues/1472) with all entries for easy browsing.
+
+## Timeline (UTC)
+
+* Submissions open: Oct 1, 2025
+* Deadline: Oct 22, 2025, 23:59
+* Shortlist announced: Oct 23, 2025
+* Community vote: Oct 23–Oct 30, 2025
+* Winner announced: Nov 1, 2025
+
+## How we’ll pick the winner
+
+* Jury (40%): php.net maintainers Sergey, Luffy, Derick, Sara + design advisor [Sergei Elin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergei-ellin/) (JetBrains) evaluate against the criteria below.
+* Community vote (60%): single-vote mechanism.
+* Tie-breaker: jury decision.
+
+Scoring criteria:
+
+1. Clarity of content hierarchy
+2. Responsiveness & mobile UX
+3. Performance & simplicity (no deps, readable markup)
+4. Fit with php.net look and tone
+
+## Rules & licensing
+
+* Your submission must be your original work and free of restrictive third-party licenses.
+* By entering, you agree your design (and any code you provide) will be licensed under the [same terms as the php.net](https://php.net/copyright.php) website (web-php repository) and may be adapted as needed.
+* Team entries are allowed (max 1 entry per person/team).
+* Judges and organizers cannot participate.
+* We may decline to award if no entry meets the bar.
+* Participants must be 18 years or older.
+* Submissions from participants in restricted or sanctioned territories will not be considered.
+
+## Questions
+
+Please ask in the pinned [Contest issue](https://github.com/php/web-php/issues/1472) in [php/web-php](https://github.com/php/web-php). We’ll keep answers centralized and public.    
+
+Let’s make the PHP 8.5 release page a joy to browse – clear, fast, and friendly for everyone!
+
+🐘💜