A warehouse worker has been shortlisted for an Ivor Novello award for a song he wrote at home alone on New Year's Eve with a bottle of vodka by his side following an upsetting encounter with an ex-girlfriend.

Nick Hemming, 35, originally from Staffordshire, now finds himself in competition with Elbow and The Last Shadow Puppets after being shortlisted for the best song musically and lyrically at the Ivor Novello awards.

It is the first time in the awards' 54-year history that a self-published musician has been nominated in the prestigious category.

Hemming, who wraps fabric in a furniture warehouse, is a songwriter in little-known indie band The Leisure Society. He has been nominated for the song The Last of the Melting Snow, which was self-published and self-produced.

He described yesterday how he wrote the song in a melancholy moment, having run into his ex-girlfriend.

"I went home for Christmas to Burton and I bumped into my ex who I was with for about eight years – I moved to London because we split up," he said.

"She invited me back to her house, and I thought we were going to get back together, but instead she had invited me round to tell me about her new boyfriend."

To escape, he went to London immediately but all of his friends were out of town, so as revellers celebrated the new year he sat inside drinking and writing about the end of his relationship.

The song received critical acclaim upon its release in December but did not gain widespread popularity.

On the release of The Leisure Society's debut album, The Sleeper, Paul Mardles in the Observer wrote that it was wonderful, describing it as a "peculiarly English strain of Americana shot through with longing and a nagging sense of dread".

Despite the plaudits Hemming remains working at the Osborne & Little fabric warehouse in Merton, south-west London.

"There are seven people in the band, so it's difficult to make a living out of it," he said.

"I work full-time but music has always been the main thing for me.

"At the moment I'm working in a fabric warehouse, wrapping and packing fabric to send to America. It's mostly data entry and lifting stuff.

"I don't really have to use my brain much, so it's a perfect time to write lyrics."

Previous winners of the award include George Harrison for Something and John Lennon and Paul McCartney for She's Leaving Home, Pulp for Common People and Sting for Every Breath You Take.

The Ivor Novello Awards take place in London on May 21.