For three years a jury of teenagers and young adults who work for the youth publication YO! have held their own informal Academy Awards, selecting the films that moved them most over the past year. Their list has little in common with the real Academy's honorees--and even less in common with Hollywood's idea of what will appeal to young people. This year, the YO! jurors were drawn to films that focused on family and that explored moral issues. Patrick Macias is on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about teenagers produced by Pacific News Service.

SAN FRANCISCO -- While the Oscars have been an annual event for the past 68 years, the YO! Academy Awards have been around for a modest three. But in that short space of time, the YO! jury of young movie-goers (all staff writers for the San Francisco-based magazine YO!) has made hash out of preconceived notions of what kinds of films kids will respond to and why.

The real Academy may roll out the red carpet for the talking pigs of "Babe" and the blood-spattered war heroes of "Braveheart," but YO! jurors ignored the very existence of these films -- and of the blockbusters like "Apollo 13" and "Batman Forever" that Hollywood thinks we'll watch. Our winners came from all over the world, not just the multiplex at the mall. Young people, it seems, demand more of movies than effects or entertainment.

Here are some of our picks for the best films of '95:

Films about family proved particularly popular. "Mi Familia (My Family)," which covers three generations of life in a Mexican-American household, won raves from Andrea, 21, for "being about the pain associated with family, and the pain you can't even share with your family." Nishat, 17, picked the British-made "Bhaji on the Beach" because "It's a movie about Indians, so I was juiced just for the fact that there were Indians on the screen. It reminded me of me and my mother's relatives."

The New Zealand film "Once Were Warriors," about domestic violence and denial in a Maori household, was a favorite of Lyn, 19. "Wife beating is always portrayed so you feel sorry for the women; they have low self-esteem. But the mother here was so strong. She was stronger than her husband." Isadora, 22, was moved by "Halfaouine -- Boy of the Terraces," a coming-of-age story set in Tunisia, which "showed a boy's first experience of living out the consequences of his actions. It showed that you have to live with your choices."

Ri'Chard, 18, found life lessons in "Panther." "Even though people who had lived in Black Panther households told me it was really inaccurate," he said, "it showed me to come up with your own plan, because once you make any headway within the system, the system changes itself." Cash, 19, admired the Hughes Brothers' "Dead Presidents" for its depiction of the treatment of black Vietnam veterans. "I feel like a lot of the veterans came back and felt like straight suckers," he said. "Some of them haven't had homes since they got back. They played their lives away for a country that hates them."

William Shakespeare, of all people, had a hit with "Richard III," the new film version of which convinced Alan, 17, that "Shakespeare can be as thrilling as an action film." Reaz, 20, found a favorite with the independent video "Food Not Bombs' Greatest Hits," which he describes as filled with "local people doing actions, fighting the cops, smashing TVs in the street. It shows that everyone can be a player if you dare to be larger than life."

Stanley, 20, surprised himself by enjoying the Alicia Silverstone vehicle, "Clueless." He appreciated the transformation of the Beverly Hills teen Silverstone plays. "Somebody so shallow at the end becomes deep."

Thus concludes the Third Annual YO! Academy Awards. We, the jury, look forward to scrutinizing the movies that the adult world will offer us in the coming year. Based on our 1995 picks, expect that the moral and social implications of what we see will be just as important as the popcorn being hot and buttery.