"The jury of the 2026 Gutekunst Prize enthusiastically commends Sylvia Cunningham for a bold, inventive, and highly engaging translation of a passage from Maren Wurster’s novel Hier bleiben können wir auch nicht ("We can’t stay here either"). Cunningham’s sample stood out for its intuitive grasp of Wurster’s style and its deft rendering of the novel’s striking imagery—“The grass in the back was illuminated by the morning sun, a bright trapezoid streaming down, a smattering of yellow leaves already dotting the lush green.” Equally remarkable is Cunningham’s sure-footed grasp of dialogue, most particularly the voice of a young girl.
 
"We can’t stay here either" is set in a dystopian society called the Tech Republic. The narrative follows the challenges a recently widowed woman and her daughter Marie face in trying to live an authentic, un-monitored life in a totalitarian society. Cunningham’s supple translation convincingly captures the shifts in tone as the narrator swings from hope for her child’s future to grief and worry about the difficult conditions they must navigate. Evident throughout the translation is Cunningham’s flair for language, and her skillful solutions to some of the thorniest sentences are impressive indeed."