You could use the
User Ranks by Post hack I created and then use a conditional in your template to show a particular image.
So, it might look something like this:
HTML Code:
<if conditional="$post[postrank]==1"><img src="images/topposter.gif" /></if>
The poster's rank is also available on the profile page, so you can add it there too, with a similar expression, like:
HTML Code:
<if conditional="$userinfo[postrank]==1"><img src="images/topposter.gif" /></if>