The Good Design Award is pretty neat. Years ago when I lived in Japan I bought a mechanical pencil[0] that I absolutely loved. After more than a decade of use, I googled the pencil name and found that it had won a Good Design award. I thought it was great that a sub-$10 pencil could win something like that.
Wow I received this exact pencil two years ago for Christmas and I've used it nearly every day since it was gifted to me. In fact I just put it down to type this. I am not surprised at all that it has won a design award. I was the type of person to misplace pencils like socks out of the laundry, but I treat this pencil as a companion.
I've asked myself that a few times. If you're happy just using a pencil and don't really care about the details, I totally get that; I've got lots of other pencils that work just fine.
Here are the things I like about this one: 1) It has a grip that's not super rubbery and thus doesn't attract lint. It's very firm. Yet it still provides enough friction to act as a grip. 2) It has a retractable tip with a very satisfying deep "clack" or "clock" sound when you extend the pipe. You carry this in your pocket with no worries about lint on the grip or jabbing yourself. 3) The metal parts are not chromed, but have a matte finish. The matte look really makes it look professional, not as cheap. 4) The eraser cap seems to have a clever anti-choking mechanism in case a child swallows it. 5) The muted colors (I have the desaturated blue one) are really pleasant to the eye. There's a very slight sparkle to the finish. 6) There is no give--the tolerances are right on. No parts jiggling around when you operate the clutch mechanism, etc. 7) I'm a designer, and feel that the ratios and overall organic vs. inorganic breakdown of the physical design are right on. It's easy to sit down and draw a pencil tip that is really ugly; developing just the right ratio and curvature that make it look graceful is not nearly as easy. 8) The balance in the hand is great.
You can find these _individual_ elements in other pencils, but they're all there together in this model, so it's a really nice experience.
[0] http://ameblo.jp/staedler-rotring/entry-11510382804.html