Simi Valley Town Center is hosting a contest for local students in grades 2 through 6 to create a name and background story to the large glass mosaic dragon sculpture near the children's play area.

The winner will receive a $300 Simi Valley Town Center gift card.

The 1-ton, 50-foot mosaic European dragon sculpture is surrounded by tiles hand-printed by area children as part of a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley. The crouched dragon has a 10-footarch tail, smiling face and wings.

"The dragon is an amazing piece of art that generates a lot of talk by passersby," said Vickie Sherman, marketing director.

"Kids sure spend a lot of time looking at it, so we wanted to tap their imaginations to offer it a name and history. How did it end up in Simi Valley? Why did it come here? The sky's the limit in terms of what local kids can come up with," said Sherman.

The dragon was created in about 1,200 hours by artists Kim Hughes, Joanne Tuchman and Teri Zaccaro. It's made of pieces of hand-cut tiles with more than 40 shades of blue and green, with colorful accents in gold and other metals. The beast was carved of canterra stone, native to the Guadalajara region of Mexico.

To enter, children must bring a typed or carefully hand-printed submission to the Guest Services office at the mall by Sat., April 15. Each child is limited to one story/ name.

Entries will be screened and a drawing will be held on Mon., April 17. The winning name will be announced at the May 23 Shopping For Students award ceremony.

For more contest information and complete set of entry rules, visit the Guest Services office. For information about the mall, visit www.simivalleytc.com.