I don't know whether this helps or not but at the bottom of each forum section i.e. Clio Trophy discussion, there is a drop down box in which you can select how the topics are viewed i.e. Post time, subject, views etc...
In the Trophy register this is preset to 'Subject' which lists the topics in alphabetical order, where as all other forum topics are preset to 'post time' so the latest posts are displayed first.
I'm guessing admin can preset each one. How adman goes about it I don't know, sorry if this was of little help.