At this point it is not an ORM problem it is a Spring /
JSP problem. You have a form and when you submit that form you are not getting inside your controller.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Forget about hibernate altogether you are not even getting far enough to have issues with that yet. When you do get to it do not use HIbernateTemplate. The use of this is deprecated, and is no longer needed. See the Spring reference manual for the modern way using the standard API's rather than a template.
2. Do not use SimpleFormController this also is old and deprecated. Use the modern controller style and the newest version of Spring.
Start with updating your Spring (if needed) and your controllers and get that piece working. If you need more help with that then post in our Spring forum. This link will get you started if you need an example:
http://blog.springsource.org/2010/07/22/spring-mvc-3-showcase/
https://github.com/SpringSource/spring-mvc-showcase (source code)