Is there a way to get my group of preferred items to appear first when selecting new from template?

To get the order of your templates set the way that you want them to display. Do the Following:

1. Organize the contents of your tabs  - It is very beneficial to use folders to make locating your data easy.
   
2. Arrange your tabs from left to right in the order of appearance you desire.
   
3. Reload the current job to apply the changes changes.
   

That's it!