Human dramas, such as relationship breakdowns and existential angst, combined with the generic and clichéd repetitions of everyday life might not sound like a winning combination to most of us, but they have been just that for Watford artist Melanie Ward.

Melanie found out on Saturday that she was one of the prize winners in the annual open submission exhibition Eastern Approaches, organised by the University of Hertfordshire Galleries and open to artists across the east of England. Her work, 262 Days I Waited for You, won the UH School of Creative Arts award at the private view and opening of the exhibition, at the Museum of St Albans.

“I’ve never won anything before, so it’s really good,“ says Melanie, 29, who lives in Abbots Langley.

Melanie works in a variety of media including installation, sculpture, print, photography and drawing, and 262 Days I Waited for You is 262 hole-punched holes, each with a repeated drawing on, presented in a converted cigar box.

It was one of three pieces she submitted, all part of a body of work on a similar theme: 330 Nights I Took You for Granted and 500 Occasions When I Put You First.

“I often work in a series,“ says Melanie, who works as a freelance artist in props and special effects in the film industry, “as repetition delivers the sort of obsessive compulsion linked to emotional trauma and an impression devoid of feeling.“ While each hole-punched hole represents a human drama or emotional trauma, Melanie has deliberately avoided detailing individual occasions.

“The cigar boxes are presented in are a way to keep the viewer at arm’s length,“ explains the former Parmiter’s student who works from her parents’ house on the Cassiobury estate. “I’m not saying what each of the 262 occasions are because I don’t want it to be personal to me, it’s meant to keep me anonymous, to be generic, so the viewer can put their own interpretation on it.“ l Eastern Approaches is at the Museum of St Albans, Hatfield Road, St Albans until Sunday, January 11.

Details: 01727 819340, stalbansmuseums.org.uk, go.herts.ac.uk/uhgalleries