Cool FM launched the Cool FM Music Awards, or COMA, on October 30, 2026, with a plan to recognise Nigerian recording artists and the people who help make and promote their work. The broadcaster says its inaugural programme will have 17 categories and a separate Icon Award, with winners due to be announced online on December 4.
The business significance is the proposed mix of radio, streaming and audience participation in a broadcaster-run award. For artists, labels and managers, that creates another public measure of attention. For producers, disc jockeys, directors and other collaborators, it could put names usually left off the main awards narrative in front of listeners. The programme’s credibility will depend on the detail still to come: the category list, judging panel and the weighting of each vote.
How Cool FM says it will choose nominees
Cool FM’s October 30 announcement says eligible work must have been released between December 1, 2025, and October 31, 2026. The station says there will be no submission form or entry fee. Instead, it plans to identify nominees using streaming performance, radio airplay, disc jockey rotation, social engagement and editorial assessment.
That is a broad set of inputs, but the announcement does not give a formula or identify the data providers. A stream count and a radio spin are different measures, and social engagement is a third. Until Cool FM publishes how it compares them, entrants cannot tell which signal will carry the most weight. The station says category-specific weighting will be published before voting opens.
The organisers say an industry panel will choose finalists. Winners will then be decided by a weighted combination of the panel, public digital voting and Cool FM’s on-air audience participation. Nigeria Info, in its own October 30 report, also describes that three-part voting plan. The broadcaster had said it would name the judges on October 31; the nominee list and voting are scheduled for November. No nominees are announced in the launch notice.
Recognition beyond the lead artist
The announced pillars are music, creative and visuals, fashion and style, and culture and influence. Cool FM explicitly names producers, disc jockeys, video directors, photographers, designers and content creators among the people it wants to recognise. Those plans need the category list to show which roles receive awards and which are folded into broader honours.
Radio ownership makes the format interesting. Cool FM can measure some audience response through its own programming while also seeking votes outside the broadcast audience. That gives the station a direct role in promotion as well as judging, so a published methodology will matter to anyone comparing COMA with other Nigerian awards. The Headies’ move to an April 2027 finale also leaves a different timetable for this new event, though the two programmes have separate organisers and rules.
Cool FM’s announced next steps are the panel, nominations, voting rules and December 4 digital results. Until those details appear, COMA is an announced awards framework, not a ranked verdict on the Nigerian music industry.
