What are the odds?

Looking for a sure route to a Grammy Award nomination?

Just be a female rapper. Or a Tejano artist.

If you’re a female Tejano rapper, you’re in like Flynn.

This year there were only 10 artists each even eligible in the female rap solo performance and Tejano album categories, giving every entry a 50-50 shot at being nominated for one of the five slots. Compare that to the song of the year competition, where there were 578 entries in consideration, or record of the year, with 565. Even in rap, men up for solo performance nominations outnumbered women more than 3 to 1, with 34 eligible.

And 14 other categories, from opera recording to traditional tropical Latin had 27 or fewer potential nominees.

“It reminds me of some of those competitions at grade school where everyone takes home a trophy,” says Sia Michaels, editor in chief of the hip-hop culture magazine Vibe.

To MC Lyte, who joined Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Da Brat and Lil’ Kim among the anointed female rappers when the nominations were announced Thursday, the small number of competitors doesn’t cheapen the thrill of a Grammy nomination one bit. In fact, compared to the last time she was nominated for a Grammy, it’s a big step forward.

“In 1993 for best rap song I was in with only male rappers,” says Lyte, nominated this year for the song “Ride Wit Me” from the “Da Underground Heat Vol. 1” album. “Of course, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg took that one away. Now there’s actually a category for female MCs.”

There may not be one next year if there isn’t an increase in the ranks of female rappers.

“We usually go by ... what we call our Rule of 10,” says Diane Theriot, senior vice president of awards for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which administers the Grammys. “If it drops lower than 10 artists in a category, we automatically combine it with another category.”

In fact, female rappers got their own category only last year, when there were 15 artists eligible for nomination.

Lyte, though, is optimistic. “I certainly see more female MCs coming to the forefront,” she says.

And regardless of the small field of competition, she’s proud of her nomination. “When you go into the studio, you never know if people will appreciate what you’ve got to say,” she says. “This lets you know that.”