OMG, I remember this article from Mega Drive Fan when it came out Also reminds me when Japan had the coolest looking video game phone cards (i.e. Gradius II - in the pic)
The picture that was used on the phonecard originates from the bonus artbooklet that came with the X68000 version of Gradius II. Someone made a Vic Viper model out of wood, painted it and they did a little photo session.
It says you can enter the contest by drawing an enemy or writing/designing a trap for one of the levels. It says they'll use it and put the winners name in the game credits (like in Vectorman 2 I think.)