An Ottawa man whose classroom performance has circled the globe through the internet is holding a contest to find someone even more gifted in his unusual drawing skill.

Al Overwijk, a 41-year-old math teacher at Glebe Collegiate Institute, specializes in drawing freehand circles.

'One day I was in class doing a unit on circles and instead of grabbing the compass for the chalkboard, I just decided I'd rip one.'— Al Overwijk

Al Overwijk draws a circle on the blackboard of a Glebe Collegiate classroom in a popular video on YouTube.
(YouTube)

As of Thursday, a video of him producing a near perfect circle freehand with chalk on blackboard had been viewed more than three million times since it was posted on YouTube in January.

The video bills him as the world freehand circle drawing champion, but on Thursday night, Overwijk is challenging other aspiring circle artists to unseat him at a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society at the Cock and Lion pub.

Contest the first ever: Overwijk

Contestants will be charged $5 each to compete with other artists under the scrutiny of five judges in what Overwijk calls the first freehand circle drawing championship in history.

"They're going to eyeball it and pick one versus the other and winner moves on," he said.

The winner will receive a black jacket with a white circle on the back.

Overwijk said he is raising money for the cancer society in honour of his mother, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer last March and whom he mentions in the Youtube video.

Overwijk said he started calling himself the world freehand drawing champion about 10 years ago.

"One day I was in class doing a unit on circles and instead of grabbing the compass for the chalkboard, I just decided I'd rip one," he told CBC New Online on Thursday.

His students remarked that it was pretty good, so over the years, he drew more.

Video undiscovered for 7 months

In June, one of his students filmed his performance for the school website.

Overwijk said someone from Fargo, N.D., found it seven months later and started distributing it to sites such as Youtube, making Overwijk and his self-appointed title world-famous.

Overwijk isn't entirely confident he'll hold on to his crown on Thursday night — many of his friends and colleagues have promised to round out a mean field of competitors.

"I hope so — lot of pressure, though," Overwijk said. "I can't rip a perfect one every time, [but I] just got to do it when it counts, I guess."