AWARDS PUT FOCUS ON FARE FOR FAMILY : `OPUS' GARNERS SIX NOMINATIONS.

``Mr. Holland's Opus,'' the heartwarming tale of a music teacher's 30-year odyssey at a public high school, won six Family Film Awards nominations on Tuesday, passing up ``Babe'' and ``Apollo 13'' as the most-honored movie.

Television movies and shows nominated for awards include ABC's ``The Canterville Ghost,'' NBC's ``3rd Rock From the Sun'' and the Disney Channel's ``Avonlea.''

Winners will be announced in a live broadcast on CBS on Aug. 22. The winners will be decided by a national polling of moviegoers and television viewers. Audiences may also cast votes via a yet-undetermined 800 phone number.

This is the inaugural year of the Family Film Awards, which will be handed out annually by the nonprofit World Film Institute. The ceremony in August will be produced by Dick Clark Productions and bankrolled, in part, by Primestar digital satellite service.

Other feature films nominated for awards are: ``Indian in the Cupboard,'' ``James and the Giant Peach,'' ``Toy Story,'' ``Jumanji'' and ``Pocahontas.'' Other TV shows are ``Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,'' ``Lois & Clark,'' ``Home Improvement,'' ``The Simpsons'' and ``Murder, She Wrote.''

All G- and PG-rated feature films released between April 1995 and April 1996 were eligible for consideration. The list was narrowed by reviewing box-office grosses (the movies that made the most money stayed on the list).

For TV categories, the World Film Institute looked at press reviews and ``input from industry leaders'' to arrive at lists of nominees.

A blue-ribbon panel of 15 actors, critics and others then selected the final list of honorees.

On hand at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to announce the nominees on Tuesday were Charlton Heston, child star Thomas Ian Nicholas and Richard Thomas of the old ``The Waltons'' TV show.

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Photo: ``Babe'' is among the movies nominated for Family Fi lm Awards. The winners will be announced during a live broadcast Aug. 22 on CBS.