Just a few days ago, I published the annual top 10 list of office supply posts based on unique user visits, which I view as kind of like the “viewers choice” awards since it is solely determined by user activity on the site.  With that behind us, it is now time to announce the 2010 editors’ Choice Awards for the Best Office Supplies of the year.  I have decided to keep all of the categories that were used for the 2009 Editors Choice Awards, but this will be an evolving process, so I have made some other changes.  I’ve added a two new categories in order to make it a little more interesting.  The following  is what I consider to be the “best of the best” office supplies  for the products that you saw reviewed here this year, so I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to any feedback you might have.

Best Pen or Pencil – Quite often I get asked by people what a “good pen” is, and it is an incredibly difficult question to answer without knowing the person’s personal preferences, writing style, and the type of paper they usually write on.  Even without knowing all of that information, I almost never hesitate to suggest the Pilot Precise V5 RT.  The super smooth writing liquid ink pen seems like it is never going to run out of ink, and you really can’t beat the overall writing experience.  One additional nice feature is that these are also supposed to be airplane safe, which I still have not had a chance to test out myself. (Buy)

Best New Fountain Pen – The Monteverde Invincia Stealth fountain pen gave a new look to one of Monteverde’s most popular fountain pens by outfitting it from head to toe in black.  This is a fantastic looking pen that writes well and really stands out from almost every other fountain pen on the market because of its unique all black finish right down to the nib. (Buy)

Best Special Purpose Writing Tool – If you have ever wished you had the ability to put a dry erase board anywhere you wanted to, then IdeaPaint is the product for you.  I really love this product, and I wish I had somewhere good to put it right now, but I don’t, so I’ll keep trying to think of somewhere new that I can use this.  You will need to have a little bit of DIY spirit and skill in you to use IdeaPaint, but it is definitely worth a try so you can enjoy having the experience of using a dry erase board just about anywhere you want. (Buy)

Best Notebooks – I first saw these Zequenz notebooks at the National Stationery Show in NYC this year and almost passed them up because thy just looked like regular old notebooks.  I’m so glad I went back for a closer look because the quality is beyond compare on these.  The binding seems to really hold up well even when you completely roll them into a tube, and on top of that the paper quality is excellent.  They come in ruled, squared, and plain versions, and can also be had in multiple sizes with either a black or red cover. (Buy)

Best Desk Accessory – The line of PaperPro  Staplers that I tested this year have been out for a while, however their ability to staple through massive stacks of paper with almost no effort was still very impressive.  These staplers are powerful, easy to use, and also look great when compared to so many of the other bland staplers that you will find around the office. (Buy)

Best Organizational Tool – The Bamboo Dry Erase “To Do” board from three by three Seattle is has a simple and elegant designed that is a great replacement for any notebook that you may keep at your desk to take down phone numbers or notes from a phone call.  This will not only help you clear your desk of an extra notebook, but if you are anything like me, you can probably also get rid of lots of little scraps of papers with phone numbers and people’s names to call back. (Buy)

Best Green Office Supply – I think that three ring binders might be one of the biggest environmental offenders when it comes to office supplies, so these recycled and sustainable binders by ReBinder, really go a long way in eliminating some of the horrible plastic and vinyl binders that have been a staple in offices across the world for decades now.  In addition to being made from recycled / recyclable parts, these binders also just look a heck of a lot nicer, and don’t have the issues that you get with vinyl binders where things stick to them and they take the print off of laser printed documents.  Now I know some people have expressed concern about cost and durability, however I think if you take good care of your personal belongings, and you truly want to try and make a difference in regards to the environment these are a great product. (Buy)

Best New Product – When I first started hearing rumors about  Rhodia branded Levenger Circa paper back in May this year, I couldn’t believe it, and quite frankly I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to see it not happen.  Needless to say, I was thrilled when I was told by Steve Leveen directly that Levenger would in fact be coming out with a new line of paper for their Circa brand notebooks that they would be partnering on with Rhodia.  The end result is the Rhodia / Clairefontaine 90g paper with annotation ruling, and pre-punched to fit right in your Levenger Circa notebook.  You really can’t beat this combination of what I think are two of the best products for your writing and note taking needs.  Grab yourself some of this great paper for your Circa notebook, you wont regret it, and in fact you will probably wonder how you ever got by without it. (Buy)

There you have it, much like last year, this was not an easy selection process because there were a ton of great products out there to pick from.  I am excited and looking forward to 2011 to see which products will stand out from the crowd much like this crop of products from 2010.

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