How to make a specific region use a specific template?
I thought Drupal already added the theme hook suggestion for region--name.tpl.php, but if not you can add it yourself with a preprocess function in your theme's template.php file:

function MYTHEME_preprocess_region(&amp;$vars) {
  $vars['theme_hook_suggestions'][] = 'region__' . $vars['region'];
}


Once you clear Drupal's caches your new template file should start being used for that region. It might be worth noting that you'll probably need a copy of the core region.tpl.php file somewhere in your theme folder as well, or the theme registry might not pick up your custom file.