for populating <select>'s i use this sub:

sub selectify {
    my $values = shift;
    my $labels = shift;
    my $selected = shift;
    my %selected = map {$_ => 1} @{$selected};

    return [map {
         {
            value => $_,
            label => shift @{$labels},
            selected => $selected{$_} || "",
         }
    } @{$values}];
}
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you use it in a script like:

$template->param(foo_loop => selectify(\@values,\@labels,\@selected));
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and a template file like:

<select name="foo">
<tmpl_loop name="foo_loop">
  <option value="<tmpl_var name="value">"<tmpl_if name="selected"> sel
+ected="selected"></tmpl_if>>
    <tmpl_var name="label">
  </option>
</tmpl_loop>
</select>
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i usually have the stuff inside the <tmpl_loop> factored out into its own file so i can just do a <tmpl_include> anytime i have a select list. ie, this is what i you actually see all through my templates:

<select name="foo">
<tmpl_loop name="foo_loop">
  <tmpl_include name="option.tmpl">
</tmpl_loop>
</select>
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update: fixed some unescaped entities.