A separate sub-category of powwows are competition powwows, where dancers and singers compete in specific categories for cash prizes. These events are more modern, and have called into question the role of dance for the current and next generation. As Christopher Scales says in his article about the rise of competition powwows, there is a debate about how competition events “promote and/or obfuscate ‘traditional’ Indian ceremonial singing and dancing practices” . Hoop dance is not part of these competitive powwows; when it is present, it is as performance or show dance. The main event for hoop dance is a separate competition, the Annual World Championship Hoop Dance Contest, held by the Heard Museum in Arizona each year. In this sense, hoop dance is a part of the new wave of Native American dancing, with the increased popularity of competitive dance.

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