To our readers that are also WordPress designs, if you are interested in trying to win $3500.00, you may be interested in a new design contest that is being run by ColorLabs Project.     Here is some information about the contest:

How can I participate in the contest?

To participate in the contest, you must submit a theme concept to ColorLabs Project. It’s not a theme, it’s just a concept. Here are some technical requirements of the concept:

• The theme concept is intended for Wordpress. That’s rule number one. But the great news is: there is a broad possibility of amazing stuffs we can create with Wordpress.
• We believe that there are numerous ways to present a theme concept, but to participate in the contest, your theme concept must be created in Photoshop format.
• The theme concept must cater the 1024 X 768 user’s screen. Therefore, considering the margin and borders, the maximum width of the design is 980 pixels.
• To participate in the contest, you need to publish a blog post and tell a bit of your story about the contest. You should also give a linkback to this post.
• Designs must be submitted in JPG or PNG format to contest [at] colorlabsproject [dot] com. You also have to tell us the background story of the concept: what inspired you, how you designed, what the design is all about. Designs are not only about shapes, colors, or patterns. They should have insightful story that complete the whole as one. In the story, please also mention your full name and any URL you would like to be linked to if you win.
• If you use any stock/source images in the designs, please submit them as well and mention the URLs in the story above. Please make sure that those images have extended usage licenses that allow the distribution of the design.
• Designs must be submitted before 14th February 2009, midnight (GMT+7).

The competition is divided into two phases:

1. Qualification Round: ending February 14, 2009.
   In this round, participants are only required to submit the front-page of the theme concept in PNG/JPG format. In the end, there will be 12 theme concepts that will be selected to compete in the final round.
2. Final Round: February 14, 2009 – February 21, 2009.
   In this round, finalists are required to submit the inner pages of the theme concept along with the source files (PSD files). Source files will be assessed to determine the core quality of the design.

The contest is divided into 3 (three) categories:

1. Category A: General Blog/Lifestream and Photo/Videoblog
   Theme concepts participating in this category should include general elements for standard personal/lifestream blogs or photo/videoblogs.
2. Category B: Business Blog/Portfolio
   Designs competing in this category should include several basic elements of business/portfolio blogs. They should be able to market products/services or function as a showcase site.
3. Category C: Newspaper/Magazine
   Theme concepts participating in this category should include main elements of an online newspaper/magazine, particularly: headline, featured posts, multiple post listings, and ad spots.

The winner from each category will receive US$ 1000 and additional US$ 500 will be awarded to the best of the three. So it’ll be US$ 1500 for the best of the best and US$ 1000 each for the rest two winners. All winners will be interviewed and featured in ColorLabsProject. One contestant may submit more than one design and he/she may win more than one category as well.

Designs are assessed by a special team from ColorLabs Project. Three main factors that we will put into considerations are (1) the background story of the concept, (2) how well the theme concept presents the site’s content to the viewer, and (3) how far it transforms Wordpress into something stunning yet well-functioning as a website.

We will then make the winning theme concepts available as official ColorLabs Project themes and we will credit the contestant for the design.

Click here to find additional information and the Terms and Conditions.

For close to a year now, the idea of a magazine WordPress theme has often been modeled after a magazine or news portal, which helps to avoid the blog feel and highlight the most recent posts in several different categories in a visually appealing way.   But does it always have to be that way?

Michael of Colorlabs Project has just released his Platformate theme, which provides many of the features you’d expect from a magazine theme but it also has a personal blog feel to it.   At the top of each page (including the homepage), you’ll find a featured section for Hot Discussions and Most Popular Posts, making it more ideal for a personal blog.

Some other features that come with Platformate:

• 5+ Theme Colors Included – 5+ color schemes, included in one single product. Moreover, you can customize colors to anything you like, based on your taste. Stand out with your own styling. No need to edit the stylesheet template.
  
• Theme Administration Panel – You’ve got no idea about PHP, (X)HTML, and CSS? No need to worry about all the complicated commands and manage everything from the theme administration panel.
• Auto-Thumbnail your Old Posts – Forget the time-consuming manual thumbnail generation, even the old-fashioned Post Custom Fields. Thumbnails across the theme will be assigned and generated automatically. Simply upload an image and add it to your post.
• Navigation Drop-down Menu – Show links to your blog pages and sub-pages in a fancy drop-down navigation menu, located at the top of your blog.
• Sidebar Widget – Easily drag-and-drop widgets and place any widgets on sidebar and footer section. Download WP available sidebar widgets and have it right away at your blog.
• Cross-Browser Compatible – Designed to meet the latest W3C standard compliant, renders perfectly in Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer. W3C CSS and XHTML valid.
  
• Analytics and Feedburner – Burn your feeds with Feedburner and manage your blog statistics using Google Analytics. Simply enter you Feedburner URL and Google Analytics ID in the theme administration panel.
• After-Sales Support and Upgrade – Don’t worry if you experience any problems during the installation process. Purchase packages include a free after-sales support. Contact us and we’ll get to help you. Updates and fixes will be sent regularly for free.

Here is a sample of how the homepage looks (you can choose one of 5 colors):

And here is a screen shot of a post page:

You can also check out the Platformate demo for a live demo of the theme.

If you’d like to pick up a copy of Platformate to use, you can currently purchase a single-use license for $50.00 or a developer’s license for $175.00.